Category: NASCAR Cup PR

No. 34 Ford to Pay Tribute to an Iconic Paint Scheme During the Throwback Weekend

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 20, 2019) – The No. 34 Front Row Motorsports (FRM) Ford Mustang will run a special paint scheme for the “Bojangles’ Southern 500” NASCAR Throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, honoring Jimmy Means’ No. 52 Alka-Seltzer Pontiac. Means drove the iconic powder blue car in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In its early days, Front Row Motorsports was originally known as Means-Jenkins Motorsports, stemming from a partnership between Means and current FRM team owner Bob Jenkins. Their relationship began with Jenkins sponsoring Means at Bristol with his local Taco Bell franchise, which led Jenkins to a partial ownership of Means’ race team. The team was active for one year before Jenkins separated and founded Front Row Motorsports.

McDowell’s No. 34 Ford will feature the famous light blue body with red and dark blue accents. FRM partner Dockside Logistics will serve as the primary sponsor for the race.

“Throwback weekend at Darlington is one of my favorites of the whole year,” McDowell said. “It’s fun to recreate some of the most well-known paint schemes throughout the history of our sport. Our owner, Bob Jenkins, has always admired Jimmy Means, and the Alka-Seltzer car is definitely a favorite of his. I’m really excited that we can honor their friendship with our No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford.”

The No. 34 “Jimmy Means Throwback” Ford Mustang will make its debut at Darlington Raceway on Friday, August 30 for practice. The “Bojanges’ Southern 500” Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race airs Sunday, September 1 at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN and MRN.

About Front Row Motorsports
Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields three full-time entries – the No. 34 of Michael McDowell, the No. 36 of Matt Tifft and the No. 38 of David Ragan – from its Mooresville, N.C., headquarters just outside of Charlotte. The team’s partnership base includes CITGO Petroleum Corporation, Ford Performance, Love’s Travel Stops, Select Blinds, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Tunity, Surface and Speedco. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

Denny Hamlin Leads Toyota 1-2 Finish at Bristol

Hamlin captures fourth win of the season, DiBenedetto tallies career-best runner-up finish

BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 17, 2019) – Denny Hamlin passed Toyota teammate Matt DiBenedetto for the lead with 11 laps to go in Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, going on to cross the finish line in first for a fourth time this season.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race 24 of 36 – 266.5 miles, 500 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, DENNY HAMLIN
2nd, MATT DiBENEDETTO
3rd, Brad Keselowski*
4th, KYLE BUSCH
5th, Chase Elliott*
13th, MARTIN TRUEX JR
22nd, ERIK JONES
*non-Toyota driver

Denny Hamlin captured his fourth win in the 2019 season at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night, leading a Toyota 1-2 finish in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Hamlin led 79 laps (of 500), passing Camry driver Matt DiBenedetto for the lead for a final time with 11 laps to go
DiBenedetto tallied a career-best second-place finish after leading a race-high 93 laps at the Tennessee short track
Kyle Busch (fourth) also finished in the top five after coming from a lap down and leading 30 laps, as Toyota drivers led a combined 277 laps throughout the night

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

Finishing Position: 1st

How does it feel to be in victory lane in the Bristol night race for a second time in your career?

“It feels good. My first reaction was I was sorry to Matt (DiBenedetto). I know those guys really wanted to win and Matt deserves a win, but – I’m watching him do an interview, I get emotional for him. Just hate it that I had to take it from him.”

What does it say about this team that you guys got damage early in the race and yet you were able to battle back and pick up your fourth win of the year?

“It means a lot. It’s emotional in a lot of reasons.”

Was there any point that you doubted you’d be able to chase him down?

“Yeah, I mean he was good. I knew it was something – that car, it was probably a set up that I ran last year. I know Mike Wheeler has a great set up for this place and Matt was just doing a phenomenal job. That’s all you can say. He’s just a hell of a racecar driver. He’s going to land on his feet in a better ride than he’s got now.”

This team is on a roll, isn’t it?

“Absolutely. It’s on a roll like I’ve never seen before. It hasn’t been this good in a long time.”

You have picked up your fourth win of the season here at Bristol.

“I’m so sorry to Matt DiBenedetto, (crew chief) Mike Wheeler. I hate it. I mean, I know a win would mean a lot to that team. I have to give it 110% for FedEx and my whole team. Just sorry. Proud of this whole FedEx team for giving me a great car, pit crew, crew chief, everybody doing an amazing job. Jordan, all the girls at home. Just the whole team is just doing an amazing job right now. They’re just kicking ass.”

How did you chase Matt down at the end?

“Between my spotter and the crew chief, just stayed on me to not get anxious, just kind of take my time. I had plenty of time. I just worked him over, worked him over. I knew I didn’t want to show him the bottom until I knew I could make the pass. I ran the top, ran the top, ran the top, got the position on the bottom and finished it. We had a great car that could move around. Came back from a couple laps down and here we are.”

MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 95 Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota Camry, Leavine Family Racing

Finishing Position: 2nd

What’s your emotion now after a runner-up finish?

“I don’t even know what to say. I’m so sad we didn’t win, but proud, proud of the effort. I got tight there from the damage from trying to get by (Ryan) Newman and that immediately flipped a switch and got tight. Man, this opportunity has been – that’s what I want everybody to know, how thankful I am that I got this opportunity and to work with great people like (Mike) “Wheels” (Wheeler), my crew chief. I am so thankful everyone on this team gave me this opportunity – all of our sponsors, ProCore, Dumont Jet, Anest Iwata spray equipment, Toyota for backing me this year, everybody at Leavine Family Racing. I want to try not to get emotional, but it’s been a tough week and I want to stick around and I want to win. That’s all I want to do is win in the Cup Series and we were close. It’s so hard to be that close, but it’s neat to race door-to-door with Denny Hamlin, someone who I’ve been a fan of since I was a kid. It’s amazing. Great day, but this one is going to hurt for sure.”

What is going through your head right now?

“I don’t know. So much. I wanted to win so bad for these guys, for this team, for them giving me this opportunity. I’m just thankful that they gave me this opportunity, Toyota, Procore, Dumont Jets. I’m so thankful. But, man, I’m sad. We got tight after the deal with (Ryan) Newman when he came up into us. All of a sudden it got really tight after that. Congrats to Denny (Hamlin). He raced hard. I’ve been a fan of his since I was a kid. To be racing door-to-door with him at Bristol, in front of a great group of fans – I’ll try not to get emotional, but it’s been a tough week. I just want to stick around and keep doing this for a long time to come. I love it. I love the opportunity. I’m not done yet. Something will come open. It’s going to happen. I’m here to win. Something’s going to come open. I’m proud of these guys. Thankful for my wife and fans for sticking with me. It’s been a tough journey, a hard week. Cool for this team.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

What did you need more of at the end?

“I was just too loose at the end. The car just wasn’t there really all weekend long. I just never really found what I was looking for. We were kind of all over the place. Early on, we were so loose that I was just barely hanging on and trying to make up time there. We finally got it tightened up enough there when I was racing with the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and got the lead from the 2 before that caution came out. Then we tried to make it a little bit better for exit after that because we were going to go a long ways on tires we figured and just made it too loose. I just had no rear traction getting into the corner. We salvaged a hard-fought day for fourth. That’s about it.”

What’s it say about this race team to have days like this when you’re a lap down and can come back from that?

“It’s better than some other situations for sure. Obviously Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the guys do a really good job of being able to work on the car and constantly improve it and constantly make it better, but flat out getting our ass kicked right now by our teammates, so we’ve got to get better.”

# # #

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)
Saturday, August 17, 2019
EVENT: Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Bristol, TN.

Ford Finishing Results:
3rd – Brad Keselowski
7th – Clint Bowyer
8th – Daniel Suarez
10th – Ryan Blaney
11th – Ryan Newman
16th – Joey Logano
23rd – Paul Menard
24th – Corey LaJoie
27th – Matt Tifft
29th – Aric Almirola
33rd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
36th – David Ragan
37th – Michael McDowell
39th – Kevin Harvick

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang – “There’s always a lot going on at Bristol and a lot happening at one time. The top was pretty much the dominant line. It’s hard to pass, so guys were aggressive in making moves. There at the end it looked like maybe the 12 blew a right-front tire. Somebody blew a tire and they all slid up, and it’s Bristol you check up and you kind of all wash up into the same spot. I saw my teammate try to dive low to miss it and just caught it and when he caught it, I just ran right in the back of him. It’s unfortunate for everybody at Front Row Motorsports – lost two cars in that accident and not really anything of our own doing, just wrong place wrong time. It’s unfortunate for the Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang and for David – not his last Bristol race, but this was an important race for him and I hate it for him.”

DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford Mustang – “I saw Blaney cut a tire just past the start-finish line and I knew he was gonna run up and hit the wall, and I started trying to slow down. I was already committed to running the top and that happens in a fraction of a second and I got off the gas and hit the brakes, tried to go low, but as they bounced off the wall they came back down the track a little bit and just knocked the radiator out. That’s racing at Bristol. That’s short track racing. We had a solid run. I felt like we had a top 15 to top 20 car. We made some good adjustments throughout the night and it’s just one of those things. That’s kind of the way short track racing goes.”

HOW WAS THE RACING? “It was great. I felt like the bottom groove was still really good for some cars. Our car wasn’t that great on the bottom, but our Mustang was really fast up top. I felt like the second stage we had a top 12 or 14 car because it was rubbered up a lot up top, and I think the top has kind of evened out some. It’s a great race. Bristol is a great track and it’s gonna be a good finish. I wish we were gonna be out there.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang – DID YOU SEE THE 95 LEADING AT THE END? “We were getting lapped there at the end and I was like, ‘Who is leading?’ And they said, ‘The 95 and the 11 is right there.’ I’m like, ‘No way, man.’ The 11 just got by him. That’s tough. That would have been a pretty cool story. He just announced that he’s not gonna be in that car next year and I think he does a great job. He really drove for that one. It stinks he couldn’t get it done, but he’s a great driver. I hope he lands somewhere good.”

WHAT WAS THE RACING LIKE? “Typical Bristol, I thought. I thought the bottom was gonna be a little bit more competitive. A little bit later in the race when the top kind of was dominant I got in that wreck there. I cut the right-front tire down on the restart and plowed into a couple of them. We got it fixed and I was glad we were able to come back. I would have liked a caution to see what we could have done, but the thing was killed. That’s a big Dent Wizard car for sure, but I’m just glad we were able to salvage a decent day. It could have been a lot worse.”

DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING ABOUT THE TIRE? “No. I clipped the 8. I kind of got loose and I just touched the 8 and as soon as I touched him I heard a pop and I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ You just have no time to slow down, so you slow down as much as you can, but wrong spot.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Mustang – “My nose without a hole in it would have been really good, but it was a decent finish for us nonetheless. We led a lot of laps and that’s something to be proud of.”

WHAT DID YOU NEED TO CONTEND? “We seemed to fall off a little bit on the long run and then got in the back of some lap traffic and put a hole in the nose, and that knocked a little bit of speed out of it. That’s all she wrote for us.”

WAS IT HARD TO PASS? “No more than usual Bristol. It’s just the way the cars are around you.”

HOW WERE YOUR TIRES? “I’m not aware I was having any issues.”

HOW WAS THE RACING? “The top and the bottom came in and it was two-groove racing like we’ve seen here the last three or four years.”

DISAPPOINTED? “We had a shot at winning. We probably weren’t good enough on the long runs to just dominate, but on the short and medium runs we were. I got a hole in the nose there late and that kind of ruined our day.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang – “The racing was fun. All in all it was a pretty solid day for the 41 Ford Mustang Haas Automation. I feel like we had a top 10 car the entire weekend and that’s pretty much where we ran. We had some ups and downs on pit road and had some mistakes there as well as some electrical issues that I feel like we’re lucky we were able to continue to finish the race with the battery, but overall I’m proud of my team. Hopefully, we can keep the momentum going in the next few weeks.”

HOW BIG WAS IT TO GET THOSE STAGE POINTS TONIGHT? “I feel like that was probably the biggest thing of the day. I feel like that was an amazing call from my crew chief Billy Scott and I’m proud of that call. We have to just keep making those decisions.”

ANY CONTACT WITH CLINT THERE? “It was pretty close. I feel like I was lucky that Clint has the experience that he has and he was able to keep his car out of the wall because if it wasn’t for that I was gonna hit him. Overall, it worked out well. The car was clean on that one. The spotter thought we had contact and we didn’t, so it was pretty tight but it worked out well.”

WHAT WAS THE STORY FOR YOUR RACE? “It was a positive weekend. I wish we could have finished a little bit better, probably in the top five or so, but for whatever reason we’re strong but we’re not super-strong. We’re a top 10 car and that’s where we ended.”

ARE YOU RELIEVED THE 95 DIDN’T WIN FROM A PLAYOFF PERSPECTIVE? “He did an amazing job. I feel like he deserved the win, but you never know how things are gonna work out. I feel like I have to do my race and let everything else play out by itself. I can’t control that, but I will tell you that I wish in a way I’m kind of lucky that he didn’t win, but I wish he would have won the race because he’s an amazing driver. He deserves that ride and he’s been doing a very good job this year.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Peak Lighting Ford Mustang – “We had a good race. We were too loose. I needed more rear grip all night long. That’s probably the loosest I’ve ever been here. We kind of fought front turn all weekend long and was trying to make up for it with wedge out and track bar up – stuff like that – and it just hurts rear grip. I mean, all in all, it was a good weekend for us. It was kind of a rebound weekend and what we needed, but you can’t expect those guys to just lay over for you. We did all we could do. I was hoping to be a top five car and when you’re a top five car here you’ve got a chance to win, but were just a beat off of that all night.”

IT LOOKED LIKE THIS NIGHT COULD HAVE BEEN A LOT WORSE FOR YOU. “Yeah, but it could have been a lot better. It’s short track racing. You’re making split-decisions. I was trying to pass those two cars and get some more stage points for us and I clipped him. It wasn’t nothing he did, I was just trying to shoot the gap and I had a run on those guys and trying to do all I could do.”

CLINT BOWYER CONTINUED — ARE YOU RELIEVED THE 95 DIDN’T WIN? THAT HELPS YOUR PLAYOFF CHANCES. “I hate that for that guy. He’s racing for a job and everything else. You know those Gibbs cars are fast. You knew he was gonna have a rocket and he did. Man, that last run those cars took off like crazy. I was just too loose to go with them.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang – “It was a bummer of weekend, but at least we put ourselves in the top 10 towards the end of the race and it just didn’t work out.”

ARE YOU DEVASTATED OVER THIS? “Yes and no. I didn’t feel like we were gonna win anyway, so I’m not super-bummed, I’m just more bummed that our car wasn’t better. We struggled all weekend for speed. We got closer when the top came in, but we still weren’t capable of going up and leading the race and running up front, I didn’t feel like. I thought about 10th-place was as good as we could be tonight and we were doing that and that’s where we needed to be from what we had. It’s a bummer to have it end that way, but I didn’t feel like we had a shot at the win. I’m not as bummed as I thought I would be.”

SO YOU’RE MORE DISAPPOINTED IN THE SPEED OF YOUR CAR THAN WHAT HAPPENED? “Yeah, it’s just racing. They got together and I was already committed to the outside of the 12. They made contact, but I didn’t think it was gonna blow his right-front that quick. Unfortunately, it did and trapped us between the wall.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 17, 2019

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
5th Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Spirits Camaro ZL1
6th Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1
9th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1
12th Daniel Hemric, No. 8 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1
14th Bubba Wallace, No. 43 United States Air Force Camaro ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2nd Matt Dibenedetto (Toyota)
3rd Brad Keselowski (Ford)
4th Kyle Busch (Toyota)
5th Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series takes a break next weekend and resumes on Sunday, September 1 at 6 p.m. ET with the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, the NBC Sports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO.9 HOOTERS SPIRITS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
EARLIER IN THE RACE, YOUR CAR SEEMED A LOT STRONGER. WHERE DID IT GO?
“I don’t know. I thought we were just off a little bit off all night. All weekend we just needed a little bit. I felt like we were really close. We just never got over the hill. But our Hooters Spirits team did a good job. Heck, they executed a great race. I think we gained spots on pit road every time we came; like more than one spot, too. So, they did a great job. Alan (Gustafson) called a great race. I lined-up in the top multiple times. You can’t really ask for anything else. From a driver’s standpoint, I just didn’t do a very good job with it. I seemed to be a little bit better than these guys. I felt like the past Spring race and this race, we’ve been off just a touch. We’ve got to go to work.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
“It was difficult to pass. I think we could have had a good run for the win there, but we had some left front damage on the second to last stop that we made. As soon as I turned into my stall, the 20 was going to put his right front on and I clipped him. It pushed our left front fender in and then we had to come down and repair it the next pit stop. If we didn’t have to do that, we would have restarted sixth, which would have been really nice for that last big run there. I felt like my car was really good on the long runs. We could have given it a run for the win, but we ended up coming home sixth. We were probably the third-best car there at the end.”

THAT DAMAGE ON THE LEFT FRONT AND YOU HAD TO MAKE THAT EXTRA STOP. HOW MUCH DID GETTING BACK IN TRAFFIC CHANGE YOUR NIGHT?
“Well, if we didn’t have to pit there, we would have restarted sixth and that would have obviously helped us out a lot. I think I would have gotten to probably fourth or so, there. I was really good on long runs, but was loose for most of the run. At the end, I could get going and I was right behind the No. 9, the No. 18, and the No. 22 and we were better than them; just not enough to get by them. All-in-all, a really good day again. It was a solid points day and we jumped up a couple of spots in points. Hopefully we can get to 10th at least when the Playoffs get started. We’ll see. But, I’m happy with our day. The Credit One Bank Chevy was good, just not good enough early in the run.”

YOU ARE BUILDING A LOT OF CONSISTENCY AS THE PLAYOFFS ARE LOOMING
“Yeah, no doubt. We’ve been quietly building momentum and speed and have had a lot of good runs here recently. We’ve just got to keep it going here in these next couple of races and get in the Playoffs and carry it on through that.”

HOW DISAPPOINTED ARE YOU OR HOW MOTIVATED ARE YOU AFTER TONIGHT?
“You are disappointed that you didn’t win, but for Bristol, I felt like this was one was uneventful for us other than the minor fender damage. It was cool to not have to fight leaders off from going a lap down, miss wrecks and things like that. We had a good car, too. I felt like I could run the bottom really well. We were just too loose all race long to be really aggressive on the short runs. It maybe benefitted me for the long runs.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th
IT LOOKS LIKE YOU FADED AT THE END. WHAT HAPPENED THERE?
“We just weren’t quite there all night. I think we had a nice sequence to get a stage win, but just tight center out. We just didn’t have the mojo all weekend. The first few laps in practice, I was like man I have to get this rotation to help turn center out. We just didn’t get it done.”

WERE YOU ROOTING FOR A LATE CAUTION THERE?
“It wouldn’t have helped us much.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 19th
“After the first incident, it was just too hard to make up ground after that. We just had so much damage. To come back 19th is respectable. The other part is that we had to get off strategy because we lost two laps. So, the first two-thirds of the race, we were running old tires against the field a lot of the time trying to get laps back. It was just one of those nights.”
“Qualifying put us in that spot. A better qualifying effort would have had us in a much better position. I wouldn’t have been there when the 3 blew his tire and life would be totally different.”

YOU GUYS PITTED RIGHT BEFORE THE END OF STAGE 2 AND THEN RIGHT AFTER STAGE 2. WHAT HAPPENED THERE?
“On the restart, the 21 got into the side of me and knocked the left front fender in and we had to pit again. We had just got the lucky dog, but we had to pit again because the left front was rubbing.”

YOU SEEM LIKE YOU’RE IN GOOD SPIRITS.
“For as beat up as that car is and the runs we did on old tires, we had a good night and just a lot of bad luck. I have to look at the truth inside of this team and how strong this team is, how good this team is. I know the results are coming, it’s just a series of bad luck and it all started with a bad qualifying effort. We have to clean things up for sure. This team is really starting to gel and come along.”

IS IT PRETTY MUCH WIN OR ELSE NOW?
“I’ve got one more shot. I don’t know, it’s so hard to predict. These are two great tracks for me, two places that I love. We’ll see what happens.”

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.

Denny Hamlin Wins First Pole Award for Toyota in 2019
Hamlin one of four Camry drivers to start in the top 10 at Bristol Motor Speedway

BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 16, 2019) – Denny Hamlin captured his 31st career NASCAR Cup Series pole award at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday afternoon.

Toyota Racing Post-Qualifying Report
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Bristol Motor Speedway – August 16, 2019

TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, DENNY HAMLIN
2nd, Kyle Larson*
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
4th, Kurt Busch*
5th, Aric Almirola*
7th, MATT DIBENEDETTO
9th, ERIK JONES
31st, KYLE BUSCH
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

Qualifying Position: 1st

Based on practice, did you think you’d be able to get the pole, especially after seeing Kyle Larson’s lap?

“I didn’t know I beat (Kyle) Larson. I thought it was Martin (Truex Jr.). Perfect. Even better. I was wondering why he was giving me the finger when I pulled in. No, that’s awesome. We’re about to go up and watch this Xfinity race in the stands, so nice. I didn’t know what he ran. I knew we had a shot. The second practice especially, our car was really good and had good speed at the front of the run and end of the run. I was confident as long as the crew chief did his job and I did my job, we’d definitely have a chance.”

This is the first pole award for Toyota this year, what does that mean to you?

“Fortunately for us, qualifying doesn’t pay any money and it doesn’t pay any points. It really hasn’t weighed on us. I mean obviously with the aero package that we have, you can make your car on most tracks as fast or slow as you want to, but you have concerns about racing after that. We’ve really focused on making our cars race well and that’s where all the accolades come from. Sure, you want to win a pole. That’s obviously a big deal. If you don’t win a pole for your organization or a manufacturer or yourself in a year, it maybe shows a little lack of speed, but I certainly knew that we’ve had race-winning speed all year long. With the new qualifying format and all that, it’s not been our focus. It’s been the race. Certainly we knew short tracks would be an opportunity where we could get that done.”

You’ve been on a hot streak lately, what’s it say about this team right now?

“It’s just every track we go to. It’s the same. It’s fast. I’m driving it to the best of my ability and working hard at trying to get every ounce of speed out of it that I can. It’s just working. Everything’s just working right now really well. I don’t know what in particular happened. I don’t think anything really happened, but I know certainly that some of these race tracks are the ones that we’ve gone back to for a second time. A lot of people talk about hey, when we go back, we’ll be better, but I think results have shown every track we’ve gone back to, we’ve finished first or second. That means the crew chief is doing a really good job of listening to my comments after the races and making the car better.”

Have you gotten any more information on how the high line adjustments went and what’s your thought process on how much track’s need to communicate with drivers before you show up?

“I think the communication has been good. It’s been good on all fronts. We actually talked about this race track as well. We didn’t talk about the high line, but we did talk about the PJ1 application. I think it’s very important that they get information from the drivers because ultimately, we know what will put on the best race possible. We know Achilles heels of race tracks where hey, if we had this ability to go here, we could make more passes or if this was widened out or narrowed, we could put on a better race. I think the whole sport has done a great job of working together on that and I think you’ve seen since we’ve been doing that over the last month and a half or so, we’ve improved a lot of race tracks. Pocono was a prime example of that. Michigan. Both Michigan and Pocono I believe the passes were made by being set up on the outside and those are tracks that are primarily one lane, bottom feeding tracks. They’re really doing a good job of working with us. As far as the top lane here. They sent us a picture a few days ago of it. It looked like it was just washed. I’m not sure. I think that they maybe brushed it like they did in years past, which is – I’m not sure it’s not just cleaning it. It’s really kind of changing the surface a little bit. I think it’s digging the rubber out of the pores of the track and it’s almost like getting the top layer of your skin taken off. It’s more smooth. It changes the race track. I think it just caught some teams off guard, drivers off guard. Ultimately, you’ll still see a great race here that you’ve seen in years past. I think it’ll be top lane is going to be dominant. By race end, I think you’ll see it in the Xfinity race tonight. The top lane is going to come in. Especially in (Turns) 3 and 4 and you’re going to have to use the bottom to pass lap cars. I don’t think it’ll have any bearing on the race. I think it was more some drivers were like, whoa, what is this. They were caught off guard because we had been communicating so much over the last month and a half. I’ve been giving all the drivers so many updates on here’s what this track looks like and we didn’t really have that. It’s okay. It’s fine. Each track president or owner can do whatever they want. They could I guess put truck ramps out there if they want. We’re going to race no matter what race track we’ve got.”

Is the sport changing for drivers in that it’s more difficult now than it was in the past to get a ride even if you’re getting good performances.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m so blessed in my situation, I’m probably the last person you should talk to about that. Results mattered and the thing is, when I came into the sport, there was five or six of us – me, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Reed Sorenson, JJ Yeley – it was essentially the top five in points from Xfinity all moved up to Cup in the same year and all in race-winning equipment. Those days are dead. You look at the sponsors that were on our cars back then and it was like, these are huge companies that were taking risks on unknown and relatively unproven drivers. It’s just not that landscape anymore. I think that the costs of racing has gone up since that point. Income had gone down since that point. Teams are having to make more business decisions than ever today, but certainly – listen I don’t want to talk too much about it because I thank my lucky stars every day that I have this company on my chest and they’re there for 38 weekends of the year. I don’t know. It just doesn’t happen anymore. To have the loyalty of a company like FedEx that has spoken openly about how the impact that they see sponsorship does from their race car, they see the value times 10. If that company believes in it, I believe other companies should probably look at how FedEx is doing it and apply the business model accordingly.”

MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 95 Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota Camry, Leavine Family Racing

Qualifying Position: 7th

How good does it feel to have a strong qualifying effort after your news this week?

“It’s awesome. It’s rewarding. This is a track that we’ve had circled off anyways that we feel like we’re good at. Short tracks, road courses, ones where we can really hustle the car. It’s been good. It’s fun coming out and having good speed. I feel good about our car. I actually didn’t feel good about our qualifying lap. I’m glad we still ended up seventh because I, along with a lot of people, got really loose.”

Were you prepared for this only being a one-year deal or were you blindsided?

“I don’t want to say I was blindsided. I think I was just trying to be – let my performance behind the wheel do the talking and hope that that would prevail over everything, but sometimes performance isn’t everything. At the end of the day, I’ve said in all my interviews and stuff, the main thing I want everyone to know, fans especially and social media and stuff, is to be easy on our team and Toyota and (Joe) Gibbs and everything because they’re all still great people and they gave me this opportunity to go out do things like we just did today and have top fives and top 10s. I wouldn’t have been able to showcase that without them. I mean heck, I’m driving the JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), the 18 car at Road America next weekend. Obviously, they’re great people and I’m lucky to have the opportunity. I hate it’s coming to an end, but my entire career has been devastation at the time, but it’s always been a better door opening every single time since I was literally a kid. It’s been a tough journey, so I’m kind of accustomed to it and I try and look at it that way. The trend has been that.”

Have you been putting resumes out or has your phone been ringing?

“It’s going to have to be that time, unfortunately. I have no irons in the fire per say, yet, but this all just happened just this week. I keep everyone posted right on – when I find out something, I tell everybody. I just like to be an open book and I’ll keep everybody posted along the way. I don’t want to retire yet because I’m only 28 years old. Just getting started, but I want to win in the Cup Series. That’s what I’ve said and that’s my goal. I’m here to keep on climbing the ladder, not go backwards.”

Would you be open to driving in the Xfinity Series if there was a Joe Gibbs Racing car open?

I honestly lean heavily on some of my fellow drivers that I have a lot of respect for, for some advice if situations like that came up, but I don’t think there is that opportunity or as of now, there’s not. Not that I’m aware of. I’ve talked to the Toyota folks and stuff and I don’t foresee any opportunities within the camp, I don’t think. Just going to have to really pursue everything, but the main goal is to keep proving myself behind the wheel, which I’ve shown I’m here to win and run up front. I want to win in Cup, so whatever gets me there – you guys saw last year, I took a huge gamble. My career could have been over, but that’s just how dedicated I am to winning in the Cup Series. I’m not going to just be like oh, this is a job and this will pay the bills. I’d rather live in a box knowing I put it all out there versus just taking a job.”

What has it meant to receive all the support from your peers, former owners, etc.?

“A lot. Just more than they know. More I mean from drivers and owners, but a lot of drivers reached out to me this week that I have a lot of respect for. Guys like Kyle Busch, for example, but many of them reached out. That means more to me than they know, especially going through a situation where I’m having to be strong for myself, my family and my wife being a big ball of tears, so those things help for me to show her like hey, this is what we’ve proven and done and we’ve gained a lot of respect, so the journey is not over. We’re just going to open up a better door.”

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

Qualifying Position: 9th

Top-10 position, are you happy with it?

“No, I had pole-winning car and I messed it up. I got loose coming to the green and I got loose in my second lap between (Turns) 3 and 4 and I had plenty of speed on that lap to be on the pole. That’s frustrating. It’s a top-10 effort, which is fine, but definitely should’ve gotten the pole. Frustrating more so probably because it’s one of the last two shots we’ve got to get a pole this year. We aren’t fast in qualifying at the mile-and-a-halfs and such, so maybe Darlington next week, but that’s probably the most frustrating part for me.”

# # #

About Toyota

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

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

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 16, 2019

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1
4th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1
6th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS SPIRITS CAMARO ZL1
10th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1
17th DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CAMARO ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2nd Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
3rd Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
4th Kurt Busch (Chevrolet)
5th Aric Almirola (Ford)

NBCSN will telecast the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway live at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, August 17. The NBC Sports Gold app will stream the race and live coverage can also be found on PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 2nd
ON HIS RUN
“I was just a little too tight. But, I feel like being a little bit too tight was better than being a little bit too free, I think. I saw so many people get loose through (Turns) 3 and 4. But, I was just a little bit too tight to kind of roll through the center like I needed to and get to the gas just a little bit sooner. But, overall, I’m happy with how we qualified and the grip I had in my car. In practice, I was really loose. So hopefully we’ll have a good race tomorrow and try and get my first Bristol Cup win.”

YOUR FAVORITE LINE AROUND THIS PLACE GOT CLEANED OFF AND USED IN PRACTICES. WHERE ARE WE?
“Oh, everybody just thinks I’m so committed to the top, but I’m not, actually. I run around the bottom here more often than I do the top throughout the race. I feel like what’s made us good here is that I can get to the top and maintain speed. But then when the top starts to slow down, I can get back down to the bottom and be good. We had a loose wheel earlier this year and spent most of the race a few laps down. But I was passing a lot of lead-lap cars running the bottom. Hopefully we have that in our car tomorrow. But, we’ve got to wait and see. I love this place. I wish we could race here all the time. It’s definitely the best track we go to. I’m always excited about this race.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 4th
EARLIER IN THE DAY YOU APPEARED TO BE ANGRY WITH YOUR RACE CAR, BUT THEN YOU QUALIFIED 4TH. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?
“I feel like we did good to make changes and improve our Monster Chevy. You have to still stick with your book here at Bristol because it’s daytime and the race is at night and things usually are more important about what happened in the race the last time you were here versus a practice in the afternoon, or something.”

YOU HAVE WON HERE SIX TIMES. SO THAT PART ABOUT BRISTOL HAS STAYED THE SAME
“Yeah, it’s still about the consistency of what you do each time at Short Tracks. And there are little things that you have to stay on top of and change. Like the stagger seems to be less this time around, and that’s really what I was referencing on the radio. Guys we’ve got to make sure we’re not painted into a corner by what Goodyear brought for stagger.”

WHY HAS THE TRACK BENEFITTED YOU AND YOUR STYLE?
“I don’t know. With me and Kyle (Busch) and the wins that we have here, a lot of it is protecting the race car and putting yourself in position to win. You’ve got to get up on the wheel here. You’ve got to know when to get up on the wheel. And, if you get up on the wheel and you’re at 101 percent, you’ve stepped over the line and the track will chew you up and spit you out. So, you’ve got to know where the line is, I guess.

“You’ve got to protect the car when there are traffic situations around you and usually you’re at 90 percent or 95 percent. And then you go, when you can, and you put it at the 99 percent level. I think that’s key on knowing when to do it and when not to do it.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO.9 HOOTERS SPIRITS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 6th
“When the sun goes down, the grip gets better as it cools off sometimes. We were really struggling at the end of practice and I didn’t really give the top a fair chance. We were so bad there at the end that I was trying to figure other things out.”

“Bristol can either be really good or really bad. It seems like it can be that way no matter how many times you’ve been here. You just hope you hit on it right and can survive. It’s a long race and sometimes it’s hard to just make it to the end. I haven’t had a whole lot of success here anyways, so hopefully tomorrow is better.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 10th
“We were really loose right there. I think we had a really good lap going until 3 & 4 on the first lap and the second lap, it stepped down on both ends. That’s a bummer. I would have liked to be a little better than that. I mean we’ll probably be around tenth or so.”
“I stayed out of the high line in practice. We had some issues with our car today. In first practice, we got pretty behind and the guys were pretty stressed out just trying to get through practices. With my luck, I would go up there, hit the right side and cause them a bunch of work. We’ll be up there once it comes in.”

DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 17th
“It’s been a little bit of a discussion about how the top isn’t the same for whatever reason. I think it may take a little longer to rubber in, but I’ll be curious to see what the track does overnight. If they re-apply the traction compound, it will take 100-150 laps for the top to come in. Once it comes in, it will be a fairly good race. In reality, I think it will open a bunch of lanes up once it does come in. It may be a little frustrating early in the race. The cars that are really good and maybe aren’t as affected by the air will be a little faster earlier in the race. Once those lanes open up, the best cars will prevail.”
“I’ll be watching the Xfinity race really closely. Obviously, it will be a little different because they’ve had Cup cars on the track, they’ve been on the track. Once we get past the halfway point, even in tonight’s race, we’ll have a good idea what will happen tomorrow.”

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 UNITED STATES AIR FORCE CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 22nd
“It was good. After watching Xfinity qualifying, we knew going out early was a disadvantage. I text Derek (Stamets) right before qualifying and asked him to tighten us up a little more. He nailed it almost perfectly. I was a little too tight on the exit of Turn 4. Other than that, our United States Air Force Chevrolet isn’t bad. We made the right adjustments and made a decent lap, so we’ll see how long we can hang on. When you see the 18 team go out first and lay down that lap, no matter where they go out, you kind of judge your lap time on that. We ended up beating him, so not bad. Good job by my guys.”

TY DILLON, NO.13 GEICO MILITARY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 24th
“I think we’re going to have a good race. There’s a lot going on about scraping the track and whatnot, but I think the biggest thing is that they didn’t put down as much PJ-1 so we are going to get up there no matter what. Whether they scraped it or not, it’s going to come back in pretty quick. We are going to have good racing, we’ve had good racing the last couple of years here. I wish we could get on the same page as to what we are trying to achieve with the race track with NASCAR, tracks and the drivers. We are all on the same track, all have the same surface and all have to do it. Our GEICO Camaro was pretty strong. I have a good feeling about this place. Having won a stage here, I have a lot of confidence. I’m looking forward to what tomorrow brings.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 BUSH’S BEANS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 29th
“The first thing would to be not suck in qualifying, and we did not get that one right. I did a terrible job there, I’m disappointed in that for sure. Where that leaves us for starting the race, that’s a tough one. The qualifying format definitely rewards the good qualifiers every week. We consistently don’t qualify that great, but our race cars are terrific and we are able to run top-20 every week. That doesn’t help us in qualifying, but that’s part of it. I just didn’t do a good job there. It puts us in a little bit of a hole here to start the race. The good news is that it’s my favorite tracks, one of my best tracks. It’s good short track racing with the opportunity to pass.”

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

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, August 16, 2019
EVENT: Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Bristol, TN. (Qualifying)

Ford Qualifying Results:
5th – Aric Almirola
8th – Kevin Harvick
11th – Joey Logano
12th – Ryan Blaney
13th – Brad Keselowski
14th – Ryan Newman
15th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
16th – David Ragan
18th – Daniel Suarez
20th – Clint Bowyer
25th – Paul Menard
26th – Corey LaJoie
27th – Matt Tifft
28th – Michael McDowell

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – “I thought our car was pretty good. I felt good about the first run that we made in happy hour and then we made some adjustments just trying to find a little bit more speed and we kind of got off track, so we’ve had a good car. Our Smithfield Ford Mustang has been good since we got here. I love this place. It’s a really good place for me, so hopefully we can have some lady luck on our side this time.”

WHAT IS THE SECRET TO DOING WELL HERE? “It’s so hard. It happens so fast. You have to attack. You just have to be on such attack mode here, but it’s weird because you can’t attack every corner every lap, you’ve got to find a way to get into a rhythm and still yet be on attack mode and I think that’s the most challenging thing about this place is just being able to breathe and loosen up your grip on the steering wheel, but at the same time going balls to the wall and that’s such a challenge.”

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN TO BE AGGRESSIVE AND NOT TOO AGGRESSIVE? “Really, at this place you have to be aggressive all the time. Dodging lap traffic and cars on restarts and everything. You have to be on full send all the time and you’re right on the edge of out of control, and everything happens so fast that sometimes that’s what jumps up and bites you is that things happen so fast.”

DO YOU FEEL SHR HAS TURNED THE CORNER? “Yeah, I do. I feel like our cars have been getting better. Obviously, everybody has been working really hard back at the shop. I know we all say that week in and week out, but, truly, we have been scrambling for the better part of the year and we’ve really honed in on the direction we’re heading as a company and when you have a big four-car operation like we do it sometimes takes a little while to re-steer the ship. I feel like we’ve got a great direction heading into the Playoffs. I feel like we’re peaking at the right time as an organization and I’m looking forward to these next few weeks to get the momentum going back the way we need it going into the Playoffs.”

DO YOU FEEL ALL OF YOU ARE PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME? “You don’t plan it that way. You want to be successful all year long. You want to win the Daytona 500 and you just want to keep winning all the way through the season until Homestead when you can run for a championship and try and win a championship, so that’s the goal, but this sport is very cyclical. You guys as reporters know that and see that. It’s not the same guys and the same teams on top year after year, so I think it’s important to peak at the right time.”

DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford Mustang – “You’ve got a lot of variables here. You’ve got an impound race that we typically don’t have here at Bristol. You finish in race trim. You’ve got the VHT on the bottom that changes with the amount of rubber and sunlight and heat in the track, and it’s a tough track. I mean, 14-and-some change or 15 seconds is quick around any short track. We made a couple good adjustments on our Ford. It held good and I was able to hustle it without slipping and sliding a whole lot, and that’s a respectable lap.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Mustang – “We were decent, but I was hoping for a little bit more. I had a great first lap and just got a little bit out on the second one.”

RYAN NEWMAN, No. 6 Acronis Ford Mustang – “It was good, but I didn’t feel like I nailed either lap. I think it was a good run for our Acronis Ford, and I definitely wish we were faster. The track continues to get better, so I don’t know how to equate that into everything, but I feel like we’ve got a decent and good-driving car for the race tomorrow night and we’ll see after 500 laps, if we make it that far, how it goes.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 16, 2019

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 UNITED STATES AIR FORCE CAMARO ZL1 Media Breakout Session Highlights:

WITH DARLINGTON COMING UP, IS IT STILL A BIG EVENT ON THE SCHEDULE FOR YOU?
“I think the older guys kind of see it as a highlight. Before I was even a part of the sport, I didn’t even watch it. I’m not knocking it at all, it’s a special place and it’s the Southern 500. For me to sit here and say this a huge event for me personally, not really. Any race is good for me to go out and win.”

TALK ABOUT THE BACKGROUND ON YOUR THROWBACK THEME.
“I’m excited about the theme we’re running, having Adam Petty’s throwback paint scheme. Seeing what Victory Junction meant to him and his vision of it coming to life is really special. I’m excited about that. It looks good on our Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. It’s such a fun weekend for not just the drivers, but for the crew members and the fans. They get into it with the outfits. So, it’s a lot of fun and I’m excited to see the other themes other drivers have, what teams are going to take it to the next level. The 3 team usually does a pretty good job of that.”

YOU WERE HAVING SOME FUN HERE DURING THE TRUCK RACE. PHOTOGRAPHY HAS BEEN SOMETHING YOU ENJOY. WHEN DID THAT START AND HOW HAS THAT GROWN NOW THAT YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO DO IT AT THE TRACK?
“It’s still here and there. Obviously, I’d like to go out and shoot whatever, but part of me feels a little hesitant, a little reserved on that stuff. One, I don’t know all the rules and regulations of where to shoot what not to shoot. Then you get side-eye from other photographers. I don’t really know what I’m doing out there. There is a part of me that wants to go down in the pits and get some candid shots, but them you get bombarded. It’s fun, it’s always a challenge and one I’m still trying to figure out. I’ve been shooting for 5 or 6 years now, but I’m still learning every time.”

WERE YOU SURPRISED WHEN YOU SHOWED UP THAT THE TOP GROOVE WAS DIFFERENT?
“It’s not different, apparently. I went up there and it was pretty slick. I walked up there before first practice and it was slick. It is what it is. The preferred groove is at the bottom with the PJ-1 stuff right now. Obviously, half the field was moving up towards that way at the end of second practice, so we’ll see what happens.”

HOW IS YOUR CAR FOR TOMORROW NIGHT?
“I think it’s alright. We showed up, busted out the first laps of practice and I felt like it wasn’t bad. We are trimming the right way for us and continuing to bring speed. It feels the exact same as it did when we were here in the spring, just a little faster. I asked Derek (Stamets) what was different and he said honestly not much. It’s good that it’s gaining a little bit of speed. The field is pretty tight, so a tenth could move you up like ten spots. It’s just a matter of getting that perfect lap. We’ll see what we got for qualifying. It looks like we are going to go out early and I think the early guys are struggling. We’ll see, it’s an exciting place. This is a big event for all of us just because it’s Saturday night, under the lights, and it’s Bristol. We’ve been racing here in late models and K&N stuff, so it brings a lot of memories.
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, August 16, 2019
EVENT: Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Bristol, TN. (Media Availabilities)

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang – WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOUR CAR IN PRACTICE TODAY? “The power-steering pump had a big issue and blew all the fluid out of it right at once. I’ve never seen one do that before, so it was kind of in the worst spot, right in the middle of three and four, kind of when you’re max load, so I haven’t had one do that before. You have ones that kind of slowly go bad. I had that happen a couple years ago, but I’ve never had one that abrupt. That was a weird spot to do it, but luckily we didn’t wreck it and it’s something you can replace.”

YOU FELT IT IN YOUR SHOULDER? “I don’t know what jacked around in there, but you’re all the way left and that thing all of a sudden stops working at max load, and not expecting it, kind of straightens out real fast and then putting pressure back to the left right away to try and keep it off the fence, I think just kind of messed it up. I banged it up against a couple cabinets and it got back pretty good, so I’m fine.”

YOU BANGED IT AGAINST A CABINET? “It got back to feeling better. I got up against the wall and it seemed to fix itself, so that’s good.”

YOU AND JIMMIE JOHNSON CHECKED OUT THE HIGH LINE TOGETHER TODAY. YOU GUYS ARE GOOD FRIENDS NOW? “We’ve always been good friends. We just had our little run-in and back to good.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHERE YOUR TEAM IS WITH THE PLAYOFFS A FEW WEEKS AWAY? “Really no concern. I mean, yeah, we would have liked to have won a race or two, and I think we’ve had some kind of slip through our fingers. Once something isn’t going your way some day, you feel like every one is against you and nothing goes your way, but I’m really confident towards that. Really, if you look at the last few weeks I think we’ve had really strong runs. Michigan last week was a bummer, not being good to go on the fuel mileage stuff, but that happens. I think we’re in a really good spot, it’s just a matter of cleaning some things up. I know we’ve been saying that all year, but I feel like we need some luck on our side. There are some things we can do better and get our cars a little bit better. I think our cars have been close to where they need to be. I feel like we’ve lost a little bit of ground. I think the Gibbs cars have been really good lately. The Stewart-Haas cars – the 4 is starting to kind of really pick up – so we just need a little bit more I feel like, but to see it a little bit kind of at Darlington and then Indy, but then everyone kind of goes all-out for the Playoffs, so you just see, but I think we’re in a good spot.”

DOES THIS YEAR’S TITLE SEEM WIDE OPEN COMPARED TO OTHER YEARS? “I think so. I think that’s what this package was meant for. It’s meant to give more teams a chance of winning. Yeah, I don’t know but at this time those three guys have maybe five wins apiece or something like that, and I feel like you’ve definitely seen more winners this year and more teams kind of able to compete, which is good, and that’s what makes for good racing. Unless you’re the one dominating, you don’t want to see that. I think this package has given more teams the ability to compete and get to where they need to be. Maybe some more underfunded teams like Ryan Preece had a great run last week, Buescher has been great, some of those teams that maybe aren’t as funded or have as much resources, I feel like they’re doing really well this year.”

RYAN BLANEY CONTINUED — ARE YOU SLOW TO ANGER? “Well, I think a month ago someone said I was too nice, and then I spun Jimmie and they said, ‘Why the hell did you do that?’ And now I’m slow to anger, so I can’t win in this sense, apparently. You have to keep a cool head. It’s a long, long race around here. Even though it’s 500 laps around a half-mile race track, it’s a long time and you just have to really be calm and patient, but there are times you’ve got to go. It kind of depends what the race track does. If we’re on the bottom or the top. Sometimes you’ve just got to go. You might get the bumper, it’s just circumstantial. I don’t start the race being, ‘Hit somebody.’ You know the spot that you’re in and it’s just all in the moment.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang – WHAT STANDS OUT ABOUT THIS RACE? “I love this place so much, just for the fact that it’s so difficult. It’s one of those places that you can’t rest. Physically and mentally it’s tough. You’re always dealing with car, either on your lap racing for your position or lapped cars, so it’s always run and interesting to be working hard with different cars. It’s just one of those deals that once you’re done after this race after 500 laps, you are tired. I feel like these are one of those races where you definitely need to take a shower, to eat and then go to bed.”

IT’S GOOD TO HAVE A WEEK OFF? “Yeah, for sure.”

HOW IS YOUR SITUATION FOR NEXT YEAR? “We have a lot of things going on right now with the Playoffs and there is more important stuff that we have to focus on. All I can tell you is that I’m very happy with where I’m at. They have told me many times that they are very happy with everything that I have done so far this year for the team, everything that I bring to the table, and I have mentioned before that I have an option, they have an option too, but everything is looking pretty good. Right now, they don’t to talk about it and I don’t want to talk about it. I have more important stuff to deal with, but I feel pretty good about it. I feel at home. Ford Performance, Stewart-Haas Racing, everybody has treated me extremely well and I really hope we can focus on the racing stuff and everything else will take care of itself.”

YOU AND CLINT ARE BATTLING ON THE BUBBLE. HOW HAS THAT BEEN BETWEEN YOU TWO? “I wish we were not in this position and I wish we were more comfortable like the 10 is with 80-90 points on the good side. We have had some rough weekends. We have had a loose wheel. We have had a flat tire and we’ve had stuff happening to us, but I feel like we have good speed most of the weekends. Sometimes circumstances happen, but we don’t really talk about it. We just try to play fair together. Right now there are two spots there that are easy to get. I hope I can get one and he can get the other one, but you never know how things are gonna work out. Once we’re in the race, I take care of myself and he takes care of his self. If I can help him in a way, I will and if he can help me in a way, I think he will (laughing). We are teammates. We are good friends and we try to work together when we can.

DANIEL SUAREZ CONTINUED — DOES THE PRESSURE FEEL ANY DIFFERENT THIS YEAR THAN OTHER YEARS IN YOUR CAREER? “I try to go like my normal weeks, but there is always that little pressure, especially since you guys are always talking about it and reminding me of the bubble and the points and all that, which I think is good. You’re keeping me on my toes, I guess, but I feel good about it. I have never been in the position before where I actually was this close to be in the Playoffs. I don’t feel like I’ve ever been in the position where I feel as strong with my team, actually. I feel right now I really want to make the Playoffs because I feel like we have a good team. We can perform strong once we are in it. I feel like the first half of the year has been ups and downs as an organization, and I feel right now we’re heading in the right direction. We can see the four cars of Stewart-Haas Racing with more speed week in and week out and that really makes me happy for the Playoffs, but, really, we have to get into the party to be able to have fun. Hopefully, we can have three weekends with clean races and have some fun.”

MATT DIBENEDETTO IS HAVING A CAREER SEASON AND DOESN’T HAVE A RIDE FOR NEXT YEAR. YOU WERE IN THIS SITUATION NEXT YEAR. IS IT HARDER FOR YOUNGER DRIVERS THESE DAYS? DO YOU NEED SPONSORSHIP BEHIND YOU? “That’s very difficult. I was extremely disappointed when I saw that news about Matt because I have known Matt since the beginning of my career. We raced together in the K&N Series and we have been friends since then, and I was extremely happy when he got the opportunity with the 95. I was actually talking with him about it before he got that ride, so I was extremely disappointed with how things happened. Unfortunately, the way that this sport is today you need to have a little bit of support somehow. If it’s sponsor-wise or support from a team 100 percent or something because as you mentioned, in my opinion, he’s been doing an incredible job and he deserves to keep that ride. I was very surprised to see that. If he wasn’t performing, well, he didn’t perform. I think he’s doing a better job than what people were expecting and what the team was expecting, so it’s a little bit disappointing to see a good driver and a good guy have to have something like that happen. All we can do is wish him the best and hopefully he can find somebody that has trust in him for real and not just for a year.”

IS THIS JUST THE WAY IT IS FOR GUYS WHO AREN’T ESTABLISHED? “It’s tough. I’m not saying that it’s tough in racing, every sport is like this. Every sport, I think, has ups and downs and sometimes you don’t like those sort of things and you have to try to control what you can control. Unfortunately, the way that this sport is today, if you have a dollar, you are worth more than the guy that has zero dollars, so that’s the way it is and that’s the world we’re living in right now.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE
TEAM CHEVY BREAKOUT HIGHLIGHTS
AUGUST 16, 2019

RYAN PREECE, NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 Media Breakout Session Highlights:

HOW ARE YOU PREPARING FOR DARLINGTON, ONE OF THE BIGGEST RACES OF THE SEASON?
“I’m excited about it. Obviously having a Modified driver as our ‘throwback’ scheme with Ron (Bouchard) is pretty cool. So, I’m excited about that. Darlington is definitely a really worn out race track, so it’s not going to be your typical 1.5-mile, where you’re kind of just commit to finding speed or trimming the car out. It’s going to be a combination of balance and speed. So, I’m looking forward to it. As far as preparation, it can’t be any hotter than Charlotte was earlier this year.”

WHEN WE GET TO DARLINGTON, THERE WILL ONLY BE TWO RACES LEFT IN THE REGULAR SEASON. HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THE WAY YOU RACE? WHAT’S IT LIKE ON THE RACE TRACK. ARE THE TENSIONS JUST REALLY HIGH?
“Right now we’re just kind of doing our own thing. We’ve been running in the Top 20, Top 15, the past three weeks and really two of them, we didn’t have much to show for it. So, the goal right now is to just continue finishing the races and continue with the speed and the balance we’ve been on and other than that, not a whole lot. As far as the guys that are racing for that cutline, you want to respect them. But, we’re out there racing, too.”

HOW BIG WAS FINISHING 7TH PLACE AT MICHIGAN FOR YOU LAST WEEK?
“It was really good. Obviously fuel mileage helped us some. But at the same time, I felt like we were going to end up 11th, which would have been a fantastic day, regardless. So, that’s where I feel like we can run and should run…..anywhere from like 20th to 15th, solid. Anything above that is a good day. We just want to continue on that path.”

WHERE DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE IMPROVED THE MOST AS A DRIVER THIS YEAR?
“I think we just keep on improving communication between myself and Tristan (Smith, crew chief) we’ve won a lot of races I would say and have ran up front in a lot of things. So, it’s just finding the communication between Tristan and I to figure out where I need to be, balance-wise, in that race car so we can run the way we want to run.”

HOW HAS YOUR DAY BEEN THUS FAR HERE AT BRISTOL?
“We unloaded pretty good. And as the traction compound disappeared, our grip kind of disappeared. So, we’re working on our balance. Other than that, I’d like to think that this is a strong track for me and that I feel like I can be a factor. So, we’ve just got to get it to where I can drive it the way I want to drive it.”

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOUR CAREER AND THE WAY IT HAS TRANSPIRED, WHAT IS THE WILL POWER TO LUCK RATIO IN TERMS OF HOW YOU LANDED HERE? HOW DO YOU WEIGH THAT?
“I think about it more and more every day about how lucky I am. It’s a great opportunity. I’m very thankful for that opportunity. But there are a lot of things you go through as a driver that I’ve won. I’m used to winning 15 or 20 races a year. And, sometimes it’s tough, mentally, on you. But, I’m willing to work at it and just work on communication and get those things better to where we can get to that point one day.”

WITH THE SILLY SEASON UPON US, ARE YOU GOOD FOR NEXT YEAR?
“I have a contract, yeah. I’m working on building our communication. The past three weeks have been good weeks. We only have one good finish to show for it, but we were running 15th at Watkins Glen when we broke a rear-end part. A week before that, we blew a tire at the end on the straightaway. So, there are a lot of ups we’ve been looking at for the month of August. We just keep building that communication and get to where we need to get. Everybody is figuring out this package and what you need to do to be faster and we’re heading in that direction. It’s a rookie season. My biggest thing right now is to keep gaining points on Daniel, because he’s leading the rookie points and I really want to win that. We’ve just got to keep finding speed and put together some races.”

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

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