Category: NASCAR Cup PR

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

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

GOING INTO ONE OF THE BIGGEST RACES OF THE SEASON AT DARLINGTON, HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
“I feel good. We did some simulator work for Darlington this past week. I don’t think you’re going to be wide open there. I think in Turns 1 and 2, we will be lifting a bit and in Turns 3 and 4, it’s going to be pretty normal. It hasn’t really changed that much there, just the shape of the corner. Just same old Darlington stuff; try to keep it off the wall, try to make sure that you are getting in a rhythm by the fence because that is where it’s fast. It’s just a fun place to go to. I really enjoy that race and having a throwback is even more special. I look forward to it. I think with our points situation, we are going to go there and be pretty aggressive.”

REGULAR SEASON IS WINDING DOWN. HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THE APPROACH TO THE WAY YOU RACE?
“Like I said, we have enough of a buffer I guess to be a little more aggressive. But we still have to accumulate good points. We can’t just go out and flounder over the next three races, but we just have to stay the course and progress even farther. We are very close to tenth, so if we can get to tenth, I think there is a little Playoff point advantage incentive for that. That would be really good for us.”

WHAT IS THE VIBE LIKE IN THE SHOP?
“It’s been really good. In three years’ time total, this is the most comfortable I’ve been at Hendrick and feeling like I have a race team that is really similar to what I grew up doing with a really close group of guys. We don’t really focus on the other things going on, but it’s definitely the most comfortable I’ve felt at HMS, which I think there is a lot to be said about that. Chad (Knaus), car chief, and engineers, we have a really good connection. I’d say I’ve worked with half of the team last year and half of the team was new this year, so it has gotten really comfortable.”

WITH YOU BEING KIND OF ON THE BUBBLE, IS IT INTIMIDATING GOING TO DARLINGTON?
“Not really, no. It’s tough every week getting around the race track. Darlington is just no exception, it’s definitely a little tougher to keep it off the wall and all that. You go there with that expectation and you know it’s going to be a difficult race. It’s 500 miles, it’s a long race with a day to night transition that makes it difficult as well. You just kind of factor all of those things in. The more prepared you are, the better you’re going to do.”

YOU JUST TALKED TO A FAN THAT YOU ARE ONE OF HIS FAVORITE DRIVERS. IT WAS AMAZING EVERYTHING HE KNEW ABOUT THE SPORT. HOW REWARDING WAS THAT?
“Yeah, it’s really cool to meet kids like him and just understand what they look forward to, how big of a deal it is for them to come here and watch races wherever we are. It’s really important to give back and see how excited they are as a fan to be here.”

GOODYEAR IS TRYING TO BE A LITTLE MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH THE PLAYOFFS. WHAT DIRECTION WOULD YOU ADVISE THEM TO GO?
“I feel like as far as the 1.5-mile tracks go, the Chicago tire was by far the best tire that I’ve felt all year. The tire just had pretty steep fall off for us at the end of the run, but it had the most feel in the car in terms of sliding the front and sliding the back. You could be on edge and still go fast. So, I like that more. It seems like every tire that feels more like you can slip it is just the worst because you feel on edge, but you aren’t sliding around, you’re just going slower. I like tires that you can kind of slide a little bit and know that is kind of your limit, instead of being timid. I don’t like that.”

HOW DO YOU SLOW IT DOWN HERE AT BRISTOL?
“The past three times I came here, which was just last year and the spring of this year, I just felt like things were going by really fast in the Cup car especially. It’s not that the pace is any faster in the Cup car than the other series, but it’s just the quality of competition is really high. I think this time is the first time that I’ve been able to kind of take a breath here, give accurate feedback and not be so broken up on the radio. Hopefully that continues.”

SO, YOU GET USE TO IT AS YOU GO ALONG? IT TAKES A LOT OF EXPERIENCE?
“Yeah, it does. You just have to relax a little bit and kind of embrace and learn where you need to be better. You can’t just be going around here at 100 mph in your mind and just trying to process everything super fast. You have to slow down and just focus on your marks, your line, your stuff.”

WHAT WAS YOUR INITIAL FEELINGS AFTER HEARING OF DALE EARNHARDT JR.’S ACCIDENT?
“I was driving down the highway. I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic and I was looking on Twitter. Somebody had commented that a plane had went down and the first person that I saw was that it was Dale Jr.’s plane. Immediately, my heart kind of sank. I had just seen Dale Jr. the day before, so it’s tough. You just don’t know, but that’s a huge blessing. It just helps you put things into perspective because it could have been a lot worse for sure.”

YOU’VE NEVER RACED OLD SCHOOL BRISTOL. DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE CHANGES THEY’VE MADE TO THE TRACK WILL BE LIKE THE OLD SCHOOL, BOTTOM-FEEDING KIND OF BRISTOL?
“I think it might be. My friend and I were out here watching the Truck race last night and just watching the way the racing was. It’s tougher to move guys successfully anymore with the grip on the bottom. It’s not the old Bristol where there use to be a diamond in the corner and you would drift up in the center, and you would rely on the guy kind of cutting you a break to turn back down to exit the corner. I think that’s why the bump-and-run worked so well because when the guy behind you caught the first guy, he was kind of at the mercy of the guy behind him to cut him a break and a lot of times he didn’t. I don’t know if it’s exactly that way, but you will have to move guys if you’re just running bumper-to-bumper, so it’s going to be inevitable.”

GOING BACK ON WHY YOU FEEL THE MOST COMFORTABLE THAT YOU HAVE EVER FELT WITH THIS TEAM, JUST EXPAND ON THAT.
“This is the first time I can walk into the shop and I don’t feel like I’m on pins and needles with the guys, in terms of them just trusting me and me feeling comfortable with them to tell them what is exactly on my mind I guess. It’s the first time I can walk into the shop and feel like I can say what’s on my mind; if I’m not content or I’m not happy with something or even when things go great. My guys and I do a lot of stuff during the week to try to interact. I wouldn’t say that we go out to dinner every night by any means, but if we have free weekends, we all go out and do something fun if we are away from the track. I think it’s really the first time I’ve done that with a group of guys at Hendrick. It’s been cool.”

WHAT ARE THINGS ON YOUR PERSONAL CHECKLIST OF THINGS YOU WANT TO DO AS A CUP SERIES DRIVER?
“I would say just feedback from me, making sure my feedback is actually making my car go faster. I’m trying to make sure that I’m giving accurate information so that it’s actually making us better. I feel like I typically do that, it’s just doing that at a higher level and at a quicker pace.”

FROM RECENT SUCCESS, HOW DO YOU AND YOUR TEAM FEEL LIKE YOU SHOULD APPROACH THE PLAYOFFS?
“I haven’t really thought about it. I think the off week will give me a chance to think about it more so than I have yet. I don’t really know. I would assume I would approach it like I’ve done with the Xfinity and Truck stuff. I didn’t really change that much; you just know that you bring a better race car and you know that your guys put in more effort so you put in more effort. I learned pretty quickly in the Truck Playoffs that I can’t do anything out of my norm. So, that’s really what I’m going to do here.”

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

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

Toyota Racing – Kyle Busch
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 16, 2019) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to media at Bristol Motor Speedway:

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

What is it about Bristol that works so well for you and your brother, Kurt?

“I’m not sure exactly what all equates to being good at Bristol here. It’s kind of interesting or unique that us two have done a really good job of doing well here over the years. A lot of people talk about how you have to attack this track and be aggressive and that sort of stuff and obviously that’s kind of our driving style a little bit, but that’s a lot of other driver’s driving styles as well too. Some just seem to adapt to it, maybe, a little bit better than others, but overall it’s a fun place to race. It’s always a challenge here. It seems like every time we show up, we don’t know what track we’re showing up to, but we all try to figure it out as we go along.”

Did you know the top groove had been ground and how will that affect the race on Saturday?

“No, they didn’t tell us anything, so we didn’t know until we got here on Thursday. I don’t know. There’s no telling. Typically, here in the fall race, the top has come in by now, but there was nobody that was doing any of that that, working it in last night in the Truck Series race and getting up that high. When I ran here two years ago, there was no top groove either in the truck race and then I had a pit road penalty, had to go to the back and I warmed the top up and got the top rolling and then the top became the preferred groove before the end of the truck race. Nobody did that last night, so that’s kind of why it’s still not there yet. I feel like right now, and, or just the difference of what they did to it, what the treatment was that they did to it, it’s pretty white, so it looks like it was kind of re-ground or whatever, re-polished, that it’s just different. Guys are a little bit more timid going up there because whenever you go up there, there’s dust coming out from underneath the back of the car, so it’s definitely dirty up there.”

How surprised were you that there had been work on the track?

“Doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Were teams talking about the work done on the track and what do you say about it with other drivers?

“We talk about it a little bit over the group text. Like ‘hey, did anybody know about this?’ ‘No, nobody knew about it.’ So then we start digging around trying to ask questions and nobody really wants to give you a straight answer. SMI tends to do whatever they want to do, however they want to do it, however they see fit and that’s what they do.”

What did you think of Chandler Smith’s race last night for Kyle Busch Motorsports?

“I was watching the race and thought he did a good job. He put himself in a good position there at the end and was making moves on the outside on restarts and on the inside on restarts. He got crowded a few times and held his truck, held his composure and did a good job of being able to maintain his track position there. On the last restart, he got a good restart and then the outside truck gave him room through (Turns) 1 and 2, kind of pinched him a little bit in 3 and 4, which is to be expected. He did a good job and I told him after the race that he did a good job of being able to hold his truck. He could’ve drove it off in there and used up the guy on the outside and moved him out of the way and probably gone on and actually won the race, but I felt like he was pretty respectful. I hope that the competitors out there kind of noticed that. They all want to talk about these younger kids needing respect and everything else. It seemed like he gave some, so he should earn some for what he did last night. I was impressed by that even though he didn’t win. I thought that he certainly earned himself a few favors.”

Is it fair to say that your truck program hasn’t lived up to expectations this year and what changes do you foresee for next year?

“No, it hasn’t lived up to our expectations. As far as changes go, it’s too soon to tell. Realistically, I don’t really foresee a whole lot of changes happening with my people. I know some of the drivers are probably going off and doing different things and have different opportunities elsewhere, so we’ll bolt in some new seats and see what happens next.”

What were your thoughts and reactions with what happened yesterday with Dale Jr.?

“It’s scary any time you hear about those things or see those things. Certainly when I heard about it – my pilot actually called me and was like hey, have you heard this or seen this yet and I was like no, and he explained to me what all happened. As soon as he said (Dale Earnhardt) Jr.’s plane went down, my heart just dropped. My first thing was like well, are there any survivors because you don’t know any of the details originally and then a lot more of the details start coming out and you start hearing things, but it’s a scary situation. With as much as we do travel and things like that – I know Jr. has had his pilots for a long, long time. I don’t know any of the details past what you guys all know because I haven’t spoken to anybody. It’s just everybody has procedures and protocols and things like that. I feel like Cessna and Textron Aviation – those guys do an amazing job. They actually help me manage my aircraft. I have the exact same plane Dale Jr. has, a Citation Latitude, and it’s been a fantastic aircraft to get me from Point A to Point B and it’s always been there for us and it’s done a phenomenal job, so I’m not sure the details as to what happened if it was whose error or whose accident it was, I don’t know. My wife right now is in the air flying her way here on the plane and hopefully everything goes well and everything is normal on that end. There’s a lot of airplane flights that happen throughout the days, throughout the years and everything else and there’s a few that have issues and for as many flights that are successful, it’s certainly a tragedy when there’s flights that aren’t a success. I’m glad that everybody was okay.”

How do you feel about Darlington’s Throwback race weekends?

“Every time we go to Darlington they have kind of a different era that you’re supposed to fit within for criteria I guess on how they’re going to theme it. We didn’t participate the first couple of years, but lately, we’ve been a participant of that and it’s been pretty cool, so I’ve been pretty excited. First year we did was Interstate Batteries with Dale Jarrett. Last year, we had Ernie Irvan’s Skittles car. This year, we haven’t quite announced ours yet. I think it’s supposed to come out next week. They’re always late on announcing it. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know why. I’ve told them to get it out earlier, so I don’t have these sorts of questions, ‘well what are you doing’. I know what I’m doing, but I can’t say anything yet. I look forward to that weekend though. It’s always fun just to kind of see the guys that really go all out with it. (Kyle) Larson with the Mello Yello car or Aric Almirola with the STP car and guys like that, that can actually grow the right facial hair and the right hair or wear the wigs or whatever, that sort of stuff. It’s pretty cool to have that and the crew guys and them all getting into sync with the uniforms from back in the day.”

What was your impression of David Ragan announcing his retirement from full-time racing?

“I’ve known David (Ragan) for a while now. I’ve actually known his dad probably a little bit longer than I’ve known David, just from his dad working with 600 Racing and the Legends car stuff. We’re the same age essentially, so it’s pretty cool that we’ve been here this long and we’ve raced against each other this many times, but overall, when you’re in his situation, it’s a heck of a lot different than being in a situation like myself or Jimmie Johnson or Kevin Harvick or Denny Hamlin or whoever. When you hear about guys stepping away, you can say yeah, okay, I understand that, I get it. Sometimes you just kind of have enough, if you will, and there’s a lot of guys that are out there – the (Ross) Chastains or the Landon Cassills or the Corey LaJoies that are working hard at trying to make it and are going to have to do it a hell of a lot longer, but David just finally, I guess, just kind of had enough. I’m sure he’s going to give it his all for the rest of the year and hang it up, which is good for him. If that’s what he wants to do and that’s what his family wants to do, then do it. You know what I mean?”

How do you feel about your Xfinity Series car tonight and will you be the first one to try the top?

“I don’t like my Xfinity car very well. It’s fast. It’s got good speed. I just don’t like the feel of it, so we’ll see what happens tonight. Erik (Jones) seems pretty good and the 20 (Christopher Bell) seems pretty good. The 12 (Joey Logano), the 00 (Cole Custer), so your normal contenders seem pretty good, so we’ll see what happens. Overall, tonight will I be the first to the top? I don’t know. There’s no telling. We’ll see what I feel in the moment.”

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.

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

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1, met with media to discuss the challenges of the current Playoff format, what it takes to be successful at Bristol Motor Speedway, the expectations of the traction compound, and more. Full Transcript:

WHEN IT COMES TO THIS CURRENT ELIMINATION-STYLE FORMAT OF THE PLAYOFFS, HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE IT?
“The current format makes it to where you have to earn bonus points in the regular season and then those bonus points carry with you through the Playoffs. So, it actually hurts the effort of the Playoff atmosphere, in my mind. Whereas, when we had a system of ten weeks straight, that was basically a clean slate for everybody and then you start earning points from there and showcase your skills over a ten-week run. Now, you have those bonus points and they get lumped together with a three-race stretch. In a three-race run, you could have an O-ring go bad on a rear end seal and you are knocked out for the year. So those are the tougher consequences that come up with this system. It use to be just ten guys and ten weeks, and that was the who’s who of it all. There are 16 guys that make it. We need more teams to feel like they are part of the Playoff atmosphere than just the 10, so I think the numbers are right on that side of it. But it’s tough. I feel like three races in one little lump is too short and the consequences are too high. Things can be adjusted possibly in the future, where a Playoff run in NASCAR might just be five-weeks straight and it could be a challenge of five different style tracks.”

BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR BROTHER (KYLE BUSCH), THE LAST FOUR WINS HERE HAVE STAYED IN THE FAMILY. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE THAT YOU AND YOUR BROTHER HAVE REALLY TAKEN TO?
“I’m not sure what the exact shared element is. Being a racer and finding different things about a certain track are always the key to stepping up and having a shot at winning versus just kind of riding around and not capitalizing on a good day or on a good car. For me, Martinsville is a track that doesn’t quite speak to me in a way that Bristol does and that’s why I have six wins at Bristol and only two at Martinsville. This track just speaks to us when we are out on the track. There are things you have to do to protect the car and stay out of the trouble most of the race, and there are things that you have to do to really go hard and put yourself in position to be in the right spot at the right time. Usually that’s after lap 350 to position yourself for the end. It’s funny the two of us just kind of think the same way at certain tracks and as the years have gone by, our stats can kind of start to parallel each other at certain places where we do good and there are places where we both struggle. Those stats show up as well.”

WHAT MAKES BRISTOL UNIQUE AS FAR AS FINDING SUCCESS HERE?
“A key element is just looking ahead and seeing where trouble might be developing that you are able to steer clear of, whether it’s somebody spinning or you see a stack of guys together that usually create trouble. You don’t want to push too hard and be right in the middle of that mix. You want to give them space and sort it out. But at the same time, if somebody is on your rear bumper, you have to go and you don’t have time to wait. You always have to analyze where you are on the track and you who you are racing around. I think that’s part of every race track, but it happens at Bristol way quicker than most tracks.”

IS THERE A PARTICULAR BRISTOL MEMORY THAT COMES TO MIND AS A FAVORITE?
“My first win at Bristol in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was in the Spring of 2002. I had a tough rookie year and I quite couldn’t get settled in right. So, this was my second year on the circuit and I was thinking ‘Man, am I ever going to be able to break through? What’s it going to take?’. My team said your car looked really good on exit of Turn 4, and I was feeling it and I was hoping it would turn out to be a good day. The race as it unfolded came down to a nice battle with me and Jimmy Spencer. He had moved me out of the way and roughed me up at a few of the tracks before that race, so I remembered all of those moments and said I was going to move you out of the way and show you what a bump-and-run is all about. I won the race that day. To beat a veteran like him, to have a great team with Roush and get that first win in the Cup Series will always be more special than any other win at Bristol.”

IS IT FACT OR FICTION THAT THE RACING ISN’T AS AGGRESSIVE OR HEATED AS IT ONCE WAS HERE?
“I believe the racing is as equal with the drivers pushing it to the limits or throwing caution to the wind. It’s a matter of it being talked about the right way and how the drivers raced each other on the track or who wrecked who. What’s disappointing is everything turns into this drama story that you read about in PEOPLE Magazine versus the actual racing that was on the track; who was in the high lane, who was in the low lane, who bumped who. That is more of what I think we enjoyed in the 90’s and the way it was absorbed. Now, it just seems like it’s what drama can we drag out weeks afterwards.”

EARLIER THIS YEAR YOU PARTNERED WITH VET TIX TO BRING MILITARY VETERANS TO THE TRACK. HOW SUCCESSFUL HAS THE PROGRAM BEEN THIS YEAR AND HAVE YOU KEPT IN TOUCH WITH THE VETERANS?
“It’s been fabulous. It’s a gift that keeps giving with vettix.org helping manage the tickets for our Veterans. I bought 100 tickets for every race and then tracks started to jump in and donated another 100 tickets. It seems like the motivation that they have with the free tickets to come to the race, they are obtaining pit passes from different sources and different connections. I bumped into a few of them wanting a picture and we repost things on my social quite a bit to really just say thank you and that the program is there for them. I’m glad they are all enjoying it. There are some that are coming to races for their first time and there some that live in the regions close to the race to where they don’t have a ton of travel costs. I can’t thank the tracks enough and other fans. I think at New Hampshire, they opened it up for race fans to donate tickets. Whereas, most tracks threw in another chunk of 100. Chevrolet jumped in at the July Daytona race and added 50 hot pit passes for the men and women. Each track has had their own fun with it and again, it’s like a gift that keeps giving.”

DO YOU THINK WE ARE GOING TO SEE THE TRACK SPREAD OUT AT ALL DURING THE CUP RACE OR WHAT IS YOUR EXPECTATIONS?
“I think the outside lane is still going to come in. It’s not a one-grove track like it was when they re-did the concrete for the first time back in the 90’s. But there was something they did to it to grind it or scrape it up top, so it’s going to take longer for it to come in. We’ll learn more tonight during the Xfinity race and they will spray more of the traction compound on the bottom lane to enhance it for the start of the race tomorrow. What I’m getting at is we as drivers keep showing up each week and there is a driver counsel that is trying to help with where the traction compound should be sprayed. But then there are these random tracks that are grinding the race track and NASCAR didn’t know that Bristol Motor Speedway was going to grind the race track. The theory is that the track was trying to eliminate the grip level that the drivers have been able to find up there and put it back down on the bottom. Each race each weekend is something different. Even the tires this weekend have the same code, but they have less stagger, so that changes the car setups. There are so many fun variables each and every weekend that we are juggling now.”

HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANYTHING SOLID YET FOR NEXT YEAR?
“I don’t have anything solid for next year yet.”

WHAT’S YOUR REACTION TO DALE EARNHARDT JR.’S ACCIDENT YESTERDAY?
“I was glad that he, his family and the pilots are OK; it’s a tough situation. We all travel quite a bit and it was just tough to read about it. I’m sure the facts will start to unfold for us to figure out what happened, and I’m just glad he’s OK. We will miss him this weekend. I think it’s best for him to be at home. His motorhome was parked next to mine and they were leaving last night as we were pulling in. It’s just tough when you’re missing a good friend from the race track.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE AGGRESSION AND THE PATIENCE AT THIS TRACK?
“I think the key is just knowing when to go and push hard, and when not to. When somebody is running on your bumper and it’s lap 30 of the race, you can’t be upset at them for why they are there. You have to move over, let them go and tell them to knock themselves out because I’m set up more for the later part of the race. That’s the challenge of Bristol, especially as of late with the traction compound that they spray down because it can provide a ton of grip way early in the race, but it’s not going to be there later. You hope that your setup is more tailored for the later part of the race. So, there are times where you see race-winning guys barely holding onto the lead lap early in the race. Then, you have either really good pit stops or really bad pit stops and you have to manage those situations too. The key is not getting so focused on 10 laps or 20 laps at a time, you have to really spread it out to 50 to 75 laps at a time for your run and make sure you’re maximizing gaining spots and protecting the car.”

YOU GUYS RELY ON YOUR PLANES TO GET TO SO MANY PLACES. DOES IT MAKE YOU PAUSE TO THINK EVERYTHING OVER OR DO YOU GO ON BUSINESS AS NORMAL?
“I owned a plane for 14 years and I had the same pilot for 14 years. It’s something you put all the trust into him or her on how they are going to fly their selves and their own safety. I’ve never challenged my pilot to do anything they didn’t feel was safe. The only time we had a couple of little bugs with our plane was after a big inspection when things are torn apart and put back together. There was a little thing with wiring issues here or a magnet that censored a light over there. There are times when it’s easier to drive and just go to the track, but driving can be just as dangerous as flying. It gives you a pause on the amount of racing and traveling that we all do. I would say that the drivers have it the easiest out of what the crew members have to go through, what the media have to go through, or what some of our race fans that go to a lot of the races. It’s the tough part of it. I hope everyone applies the safest approach possible and that they put themselves in the best situation possible to be safe.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS GOING INTO DARLINGTON AND LOOKING BACK ON THE DIFFERENT ERAS OF DRIVERS?
“Darlington is a snapshot and it is today when you show up. It brings you back to a nostalgic feel of how cool things were with the way the sport was growing so fast, but yet how old school things were. It was just a challenge to make the car last for the full distance. There might be one guy on the lead lap and second place was 12 laps down because they had to figure out how to re-weld the trackbar back together. Darlington just has that feel. It’s really neat to go there. I tell people all the time that if you’re looking for a race that compares to Fenway or Wrigley Field for baseball or an old stadium for college football, you go to Darlington to get a taste of the old south and experience how the track looks like, as well as how the racing is.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

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

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)

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Peak Lighting Ford Mustang – DO YOU LOVE THIS PLACE? “Anybody that hates this place shoudn’t be in racing because this is the mecca of all race tracks. This is the granddaddy of them all. There’s no question. Look at this place. Look at the grandstands. Look at that picture right there and then look at one of what it looks like today’s day and age. I mean, there’s nothing like this place and tracks like this we need all across the country. A fan, if they want to be a fan of this sport, they need to learn short track racing and they need to learn of Bristol Motor Speedway. There’s not a fan, a family member, a friend, anybody that I know that I wouldn’t point in the direction of Bristol Motor Speedway, so as a racer on the race track it’s no different.”

WHAT MAKES THIS PLACE SPECIAL? “Just the unknown, being able to go for it, being able to not worry about an aero push or horsepower deficit or whatever the case may be – get ahold of the steering wheel, get ahold of the gas pedal and make something happen and this is a track where you can do that.”

WHAT RACE WIN IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE? “Man, I can’t answer that without saying two. The first one is always the most memorable because of all the years of working and trying and dreaming, ins-and-outs, peaks-and-valleys, and all of a sudden you’re standing there in Victory Lane, beat all of the best of the best and people you grew up watching as heroes, people you’ve been accustomed to racing with your professional career, knowing that people you raced against that taught you how to race and made you the racer that you are were watching. All of those aspects, all of those come out with your first win. I mean, you’re sitting there in Victory Lane with your family and your crew guys and everybody that made that happen for you and you’re like, ‘Holy cow, this just happened.’ And then from that it was a long time, a long void last year when we finally broke back into Victory Lane, and now you’ve got a new family and kids and the whole new aspect of your life that had never got to see you win a race or anything like that, so that was pretty special. It’s hard for me to answer that one without saying both of those.”

WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET BEING ON THE BUBBLE AND DO YOU FEEL MAKING THE PLAYOFFS WILL HAVE A BEARING ON BEING BACK WITH SHR NEXT YEAR? “I was feeling good last week. I’ve been feeling good – snakebit is how I’m feeling. Every time you get to feel like, I told Jimmie this morning I was like, ‘Hey, do not have anything happen to you this weekend because every time you do something happens to me.’ Every time I get that feeling you’re in a good place, just ride right here, something happens. A flat tire in Watkins leading up to last weekend. Things were going good and we were gonna put probably a 30-point pad on what we needed to. I mean, literally just trying to get to the end of the thing and survive and couldn’t, so snakebit, I’m definitely feeling that. Aside from that, for next year we’ve worked hard with what partners that we had and building those, and we have. We brought a lot of new partners on board. We’re still talking to more partners. It’s hard to sell. You’ve got to be the complete package and I feel like we still are. We’re still with the right organization, the right manufacturer. All the pieces of the puzzle are there. I’m still having fun. I still enjoy this. I want to race and I think we’re in a good spot, I really do.”

DOES THIS MAKE THE HARD DAYS WORSE WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE BETTER THAN A 16TH-PLACE TEAM? “It sucks to be frustrated. We’ve had really good runs this year. I mean, if you look back at Richmond I wish I’d have just moved Denny and won the race and the rest would have been history. We wouldn’t even be talking about this, but I think I still would have been sitting here even with a win frustrated. Even if you had that win and you were in the Playoffs and everything else it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to just go to the Playoffs. I remember the Chiefs, they go to the Playoffs the first round and they’re out. That sucked. I want to be in it to the end and win a championships. You go to the Playoffs to win a championship. You don’t go to the Playoffs just to get your picture taken with the Playoff group. It’s a business. There’s money on the line. There’s prestige on the line. There’s trophies on the line and a big damn trophy at the end of it with a huge check. That is what you go to the Playoffs for, so finishing to our capabilities, yes, when I say we’re not a 16th-place team, we’re not. We’ve shown our capabilities. We run in the top five, but the reality is we are right now and it’s because of lack of finishes, DNFs, and things like that and not finishing to our capabilities and that’s what we’ve got to get ironed out and we’ve got three races to do it.”

HAVE YOU TALKED TO OTHER DRIVERS ABOUT DALE’S INCIDENT YESTERDAY AND WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION? “You know you really don’t. You just sit there with your wife, we were driving up the road and all of a sudden your phone starts blowing up. It’s always scary for me. You’re riding. The kids actually – Presley, she started dropping cylinders. We had an explosion on whatever exit it was. We had to pull over and take care of that and my phone rang literally like six or seven times while this is going on. By the time I got out of the gas station and got our mess cleaned up, I realized that Dale was in trouble and it just takes your breath away. Those are people that are our friends, family of NASCAR and when you see them in trouble like that, you see that video, that hits home. You could literally see, that’s how we travel. Gus comes out of that thing. I could see Tripp in the same way and my wife and I just couldn’t imagine. You can’t really put yourself in that situation and it was very, very scary for all of us to be able to watch that and have to watch that. Thank God they got out of it. Thank God they’re all safe, but that is definitely a wake-up call for all of us. We’re pretty fortunate to be able to fly around and do the things we do, but it’s still a dangerous sport no matter where you look. Things like that, that are the luxuries of being able to travel like that are still dangerous things.”

YOU WOULD BE HOME AT DARLINGTON WITH PEARSON AND YARBOROUGH. “Darlington is not good to me. I don’t know what I do wrong there. I’ll just fix it right there. I’ll take over from here. Everything at Darlington, I’ve always run well there, been up front and everything is going fine, it’s one of those tracks where you get down to the end and I can’t finish the damn thing. We’ve got to be able to figure that out because I really do enjoy the challenge of Darlington. That is an extremely difficult track to get around. It’s an animal. Trying to stay out of the wall, that’s obviously first and foremost, but being able to navigate traffic because you’re always in that. Even if you’re the leader you’re in traffic. It’s a bear, but a lot of fun. I always look forward to going there. I love that old-school aspect of the fans – as big as the race track is the infield seems extremely tight. We take the dog out at night and be able to watch people take in our racing and that’s one of my favorite things to do is cruise around and see how people take our sport and enjoy our sport in different ways. It’s all aspects. Some people enjoy family. Some people they’re college buddies. They’ve got a new college crowd down there in one and two that’s super-killer for all those guys throwing a big party for them, and having a large time as their school is getting back going, but it’s always been a special race and a challenging race and a lot of fun to go down there as well.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE OLDER CARS THAT USED TO RACE? “I always thought it would be neat, if you could, to be able to put those cars back on the track and have us be able to race them – or even today’s technology, just make the rules mandate those old cars and see. The crazy thing is you can’t unlearn the evolution of racing and everything that we’ve learned over the years. These engineers and guys, they could make those guys so much faster than they were back then, but it’s not fair. It’s not fair to the guys back then. They didn’t have the tools and simulation and all the things that they have today, so I can tell you because of those cars that racing is where it is. Those guys taught these kids and these guys that are building chassis and making these cars go fast today learned from those guys, and they learn pretty fast. But it would be cool to be able to go back and put those old jalopies back on the track and see what would happen. The only thing I never figured out about them is how hot those guys looked and everything else, and every time we take the windows out of our cars it’s like putting air conditioning in them. I can’t tell you how much cooler my car was in Watkins Glen than any other race track. Simply taking out the right side window make a huge difference, so those cars even had wing window in them for crying out loud. I need a wing window.”

DID YOU TALK TO ALMIROLA AFTER PRACTICE? “Yeah, he did. He had a really good hole and kind of ran a lot of laps by himself and things like that, and had a good thing going on with his car. It seemed like everybody was a lot tighter this time around than we were last time around, which we all kind of anticipated, so, for us, we were just trying to get as much as we could on the car as possible so we could go back and go through it all. We were really good in the spring race here and the last several times we’ve been here, but to get better you need to get a lot of things on the car and try to dissect it all, so you can’t really just settle in and make those long runs and raise the track bar up or put a round of wedge in it. I didn’t want to do the things that we’re gonna do in the race. You need to get the things learned as much as you can of things that you can’t afford to do in the race or can because of whatever the case may be.”

ANY OFF WEEK PLANS? “Sturgis was fun. We’re just gonna hang out with the kids and stay around here. I’ve been on the road a lot lately. I was informed I was on the road for 13 days by my son and I was like, ‘You know what, that’s not being a very good dad, bud. I will be home. We will hang out.’ So we’re gonna hang out.”

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)

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Beer Ford Mustang – WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR MOST MEMORABLE WIN?  “For me, I think winning the Daytona 500 is probably the one that sticks out the most.  I think that’s our sport’s biggest race and it’s a difficult race to win.  You see several of our great past champions and drivers that haven’t won that race and so I was fortunate to win that one and, for me, winning at Indy was pretty neat just for me wanting to grow up and being a huge Rick Mears fan and winning there was neat for me, and then winning the championship race in Homestead.  Those would probably be my top three if I had to pick.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT IN THIS CURRENT PLAYOFF FORMAT TO BE PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME?  “Any good momentum, especially from winning, is huge momentum.  I think for us you look at last year and probably the best year I’ve ever had in my career in not winning the championship there were probably a few things that go into not winning a championship, but I think you look at the 22 car and the momentum they had going into the last 10 races was more important at that particular time of the year than what we had done early in the year, so it’s definitely different.  There’s two parts to the season and obviously to win the championship you want to be hot at the right time, but winning races also makes the year more tolerable as you go through the first 26, so you’d love to put it all together, unfortunately, it never seems like it all comes together.  Even the year we won the championship in this format it didn’t really all come together until the end of the year, just because we had so many parts failures and things go wrong, and building a team at the beginning of the year, but we had fast cars and were able to put it all together at the end of the year.  We’ve been on both sides of it and you never know what each year is going to bring, especially in a year like this when you have a lot of rule changes and a lot of things that are different.  For me, I didn’t really enjoy the change in rules and the change in things and it took me a few months to get over that and realize I drive cars for a living and I just need to make mine go faster than everybody else’s, and I think once we started getting things settled down and getting our cars back to where we needed to be and in the right frame of mine, we’ve got things going in the right direction, so it’s been a good few months, really.  We’ve had a chance to win some races that we didn’t win as well, so it’s been OK.”

YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT HAPPENED TO DALE JR. AND HOW SOBERING IT IS.  YOU GUYS FLY AROUND A LOT.  “First off, I’m just glad everybody is OK.  I think as you put it all into perspective and you really realize the amount of time that you spend in an airplane and all the places that you go and things that you do and the amount of time that is required to travel, it’s definitely a reminder of things that can happen.  But just thank God everybody is OK because you look at the pictures and all the things that went on, it’s amazing that everybody is OK and, in the end, that’s the best part of that scenario.  There’s really no good part of it other than everybody is OK.”

WHEN WE’VE HAD SITUATIONS LIKE THIS IN THE PAST EVERYBODY HAS REALLY LOOKED HARD AT THEIR SITUATION AND MADE SURE EVERYTHING WAS UP TO DATE SAFETY-WISE, THEIR PROCEDURES AND STUFF LIKE THAT.  WILL IT CAUSE YOU TO DOUBLE-CHECK WITH YOUR PEOPLE?  “I don’t really know 100 percent the scenario, but Delana and I have really tried to not ever take anything for granted and overdue the things that we have on that side of the world.”

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT HAS SURPRISED YOU THIS SEASON?  “Nothing surprises me anymore (laughing).  I think as you look at the world in general and you just put our little sport in a little speck of that, there’s really nothing.  You have to be prepared for anything and it’s just like the moment that you get comfortable something will creep up and grab you.  It’s no different in the car.  I tell myself after we’ve done qualifying runs and you think things are going easy, every time I get in the car you have to make sure you remind yourself to be prepared for the unexpected and make sure that you’re ready because that’s when things creep up on you when you expect them the least.  You try to be open-minded to a number of things, which this is a very open-minded season, just because of all the changes and the way that you race, the way that you set the car up, the way that you go about things is just much different than it ever has been, and I think we’ve done a good job of adjusting and still have some room to definitely have to improve some things as we go towards the end of the year, and we all know that, but it’s definitely been improving as we go and leading laps and winning races is where you have to be to win a championship and hopefully we’re getting closer to that.”

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO ADAPT THIS OPEN-MINDED MINDSET?  “I’ve been that way for a few years.  That’s why I’m still here.”

IS THIS FORMAT WE HAVE NOW EASIER TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP OR HARDER?  “It’s different, and that’s really the only way that you can explain it because it’s more fun to watch from a fan’s perspective, and I think everybody understands that.  It’s no different than any other sport.  You have to evolve and in the end we are in the entertainment business and we have to have people watching in order to put sponsors on the car and butts in the seats and those are the number one priority.  So in order to keep up with the times, you had to keep up with what people think are exciting and I think the format is exciting.  I think it’s obviously from a competitor’s standpoint very intense and it’s hard to get to the final four, and so for us it’s really once you get in the Playoffs it’s more of a survive and advance mentality.  I think however you do that, whether it looks good on paper or not, you just have to get to the next round and that’s much different than collect as many points as you can and try to get to the end of the year as it was previously.”

ANY PLANS FOR THE OFF WEEK?  “We have a lot going on and in the end thought he’s (Keelan) got to get home and get to bed because he’s way out of whack.  He is definitely not in school form, so we’re staying close to home.  We’ll go ahead and have a lot of things planned, but they’ll be in the morning because we have to get to bed.  Staying up until 9:00 or 10:00 traveling around the country is not gonna be good for Monday morning school, so we’ll make sure that he’s prepared for school and he knows that.  We’ve had fun, so I think the reality of the situation when he has to actually wake up and go to school is when it’s not gonna be OK, so we’ll see how that goes.”

DOES THIS SEASON FEEL AT ALL LIKE 2017?  ANYTHING YOU LEARNED THAT YOU’VE APPLIED NOW?  “I asked them how we ran at Bristol the first race on Tuesday, so I’ve told you guys this before, it’s short-term memory for me win or lose.  Two thousand seventeen is great for you guys to talk about, but I have really no recollection of anything that sticks out.  It’s really week to week and what can we solve from last week that will make us better this week, and we’ll go back and they put a lot more weight on the first race than I do just because as soon as we’re done, I mean, it’s literally, ‘OK, start visualizing the next week and what do I need to do on the race track.’  You glance at your notes, but you can’t put too much stock into the notes, but this season and the way that you race and the things that you do they’re so much different than 2017.  There’s obviously experiences and things that you can take from all the different moments, but every season is drastically different and this one – the way that you go about things – it’s different than any other year that we’ve raced, but those experiences of things that we have done in the past is really what allows us to be calm with each other, work together to try to solve problems and sometimes that’s the most intriguing part of what we do is the problem-solving is different from year to year in how you approach things, but you just have to have, in my opinion, a very short-term memory of the things that you are doing and have done, and I try to put as little stock as possible in things that have happened in the past.  I know that’ s not flashy and exciting for your story, but it’s just the reality of how we approach things in our narrow-minded little world.”

HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT IT WOULD BE NEAT TO DRIVE SOME OF THE THROWBACK CARS WE’VE SEEN THROUGH THE YEARS?  “I think it’s intriguing to look back and watch and obviously that’s a cool part of our history, and I think Darlington has done a great job in bringing that story, that conversation back in and it’s been a great weekend to kind of have those throwback conversations and styles.  For me, I’m so in the moment of the things that we’re doing now and looking back I try to understand as much of it as I can, but it’s kind of like driving an Indy Car – I never really had any interest to go back and do something different because I think it’s kind of, for me, I’m fortunate to be able to do what I do and the things that I do are in the now, but watching those old videos and watching those old cars go around the race track and realizing how much different the cars were then is very fun to watch and hearing the stories.  I’d rather listen to the stories of the guys that drove the cars and worked on the cars and that, to me, is very interesting.  We had Roger Penske on the radio show and you forget the knowledge of cars that he has, the knowledge of racing and the things that the guys that have been around for 50 years, 60 years in different forms of racing is very interesting for me to listen to.  I could have talked to him all day and we always have good conversation.  For whatever reason he’s always liked me and I always liked having conversation, but whether it’s Roger Penske or Dale Jarrett doesn’t go as far back, but you listen to the old stories of those guys and Kyle Petty and the conversations are fun to have, but I never really imagined myself being in those cars because it was never really a reality or a possibility.”

WHEN YOU HEAR THOSE STORIES DOES ANY DRIVER STAND OUT?  “I don’t remember who I had this conversation with, it might have been Kyle Petty, but one guy that is just an interesting topic of conversation that comes up is David Pearson and the sole reason is the amount of success that he had not racing all the time.  I think a lot of people don’t realize how good and how much better David Pearson’s stats would have looked if he would have been in the car as much as everybody else.  It’s pretty intriguing to look at those stats and just kind of that guy that just raced and didn’t get all the real flashy headlines and things, but, in the end he won 105 races.  That’s pretty good, and not racing all the time.  So that, to me, is just one of the many interesting conversations of our past.”

YOU WERE PART OF A GENERATIONAL SHIFT WHEN YOU CAME INTO THE SPORT.  AS YOU LOOK AT THE NEXT GENERATION NOW HOW DO YOU SEE THAT GROUP CHANGING THE SPORT?  “For me, it’s a little bit different than it was then.  Experience is so much more valuable now than what it was then because you have so little practice time.  You can’t just go to the race track.  When I started we just went to the race track and practiced and tested and practiced and tested  We lived on the road going to  different race tracks and trying to figure it out, so you can’t really do that other than being in the simulator now.  We actually had this conversation on the radio show this week too, just about the young guys that come in it takes them a few years to really get their feet on the ground and, in my opinion, it’s more tolerated now than what it would have been then because the sponsorships aren’t as big.  You’re not paying the guy as much money because of the fact that you think that if you don’t hire him – back then, if you didn’t hire him, somebody else would have.  You have two, three, four options when you were in that generation of teams that you could go to and you took your pick, and you got paid a reasonable amount.  Now, it’s much lower risk from a financial standpoint, but it’s also coming from the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series is much different because, in my opinion, it’s not as competitive as it used to be with all the Cup guys in the field, so you’re trying to gain that experience on the Cup side while you’re actually on the race track.  Chase is winning races now.  We’ve seen Blaney in Victory Lane, but it took them a few years.  But I can tell you that you have to keep up with the times and there were a lot of changes and, for me, one of my favorite stories to tell is I was doing all the testing for Earnhardt in 2000, and as we went to the race track, and one of my favorite stories is when we took the car to Indianapolis to test, that we had been doing all the development work on, he got in it and ran nine-tenths of a second faster than what he did in his own car with his standard setups, and they told him what was in the car he made them put it back in the trailer and told them that he was never driving anything like that.  So you can’t have that.  It was a different type of stubbornness, I guess, when it was that huge change because I feel like now we’ve slowly gone into the simulation since ’08 and ’09 and gone to the simulator instead of testing, so there’s many more things that those guys have come into that are more their style from a video games and simulators, so the engineering side is much more in line with the simulation and things like that, but you’ve got to keep up with the times.  You can’t be so stubborn that you don’t keep up with it, but I think there’s really no reason you can’t keep racing because of the experience side of things, and I think that leadership and guidance to the team is very valuable and we’ll just have to see what that is.  Obviously, the main player in that is Chase Elliott because of his family’s history, and now he’s having success and he’s in the conversation for winning the championship and he’s gonna be the guy that kind of leads that conversation, but I don’t know what it is at this particular point because it’s all still pretty fresh from all those young guys’ standpoint.”

Newman Has Goals of Winning Entering Final Stretch of Regular Season

CONCORD, N.C., (August 16, 2019) – Ryan Newman does not want to just make the playoffs; His intentions are clear – to compete in the playoffs and ultimately achieve his goal of winning a championship.

Newman, in his 19th year of racing in the Cup series, is 16 points to the good entering Bristol (NBCSN, 7:30 p.m. ET) this weekend. While the movement back and forth for the final, coveted playoff spot has been extreme, Newman and the team have remained steady and look to not only continue that, but more entering the final stretch of the regular season.

“No different than anybody else I don’t want to just fill a playoff spot, I want to win and prove that we’re a championship contender,” Newman said this week. “That’s my ultimate goal to win the championship.”

Bristol in the spring was a statement outing. It was the team’s first top-10 of the season, and the first of now eight overall as the playoff race heats up. Newman peeked inside the top-five at times during the spring event before going on to finish ninth. Despite no top-10s in the last three races, Newman maintains an overall average finish of 14th – his career-best in a four-year stretch.

“Bristol I think will be another good opportunity for us,” Newman added. “Our strength this season no doubt has been short track racing. I don’t look at us as having any kind of disadvantage, I look us as having the opportunity to go there (Bristol) and showing we have improved from our first race.”

“We had a really good race there (Bristol) in the spring,” crew chief Scott Graves told SiriusXM this week. “I feel like we’ll have a good starting point to work from. We really need to go up there and have the same kind of weekend that we had the first time around and really try to be up front all day. Get stage points and have a good finish.”

If you look past this weekend, you find Darlington (Sept. 1, NBCSN, 6 p.m. ET), which happens to be Newman’s favorite track, along with Indianapolis (Sept. 8, NBC, 2 p.m. ET), a place the South Bend, Indiana, native has visited victory lane at before.

“Darlington and Indianapolis are both going to be both their own unique race,” Newman said. “Darlington is my favorite race track and I’ve won at Indy and feel like I’m very competitive and we were competitive at the first Bristol.”

“We need to be competing for wins every weekend and we haven’t done that,” added Newman. “We’re working on it, it’s getting better and we’re progressing with each race.”

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)

DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford Mustang – “Over the last six or 12 months I’ve thought a lot about what my future looked like on the race track with my race team and my partners and me as a race car driver, and a lot of what my future looked like as a husband and a father and a leader of our household, and over the past couple of months it was really clear to me that it was time to take a step back and be home a little bit more, and it’s pretty simple as that. In the world of motorsports, to be a premier race car driver I think you have to dedicate your life to driving that race car and being the best driver for the team, and that means putting racing first in front of everything else – in front of your family, your kids, your hobbies, a lot of things, so I’ve enjoyed making that sacrifice over the past 10 or 12 years, and that’s a sacrifice that was necessary to stay in the Cup Series as long as I have and to keep a job, and I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve had fun doing appearances and traveling to the tracks and testing and being on the simulator and a lot of things that it takes to be a competitive race car driver, but I felt like over the next few years if I continued to make that sacrifice I’d really be in a tough spot at home with my young girls growing up, starting to be involved in activities outside of school and on the weekends and with friends, and one of the things that was kind of a catalyst to making this decision is they have some interest in different things that they haven’t been able to do, my girls, because of my schedule. They can’t go and do extra gymnastics on the weekends or go to swim lessons because I’m leaving to go to a race track or I’ve got a commitment somewhere, and it wasn’t fair for my wife to be running them around town and feasibly it couldn’t work out, so I think it’s an important time in their years as they’re developing and growing older and learning the difference between right and wrong that I’m there to show them and to teach them and to love on them. I still love racing and have a lot of things that I want to accomplish this year, and I’ll still be around and hopefully race a little here and a little there, but the days of full-time Cup racing and that commitment level, I’m just ready to turn my focus to the household a little bit.”

HOW MANY SLEEPLESS NIGHTS DID YOU HAVE THROUGH THE YEARS THAT LED TO THIS DECISION? “It was a really tough process to think about all of the things, not only the things that would affect my life, but in others. We have partners that are invested in my personally and Front Row Motorsports, a manufacturer that spends a lot of time and money investing in me as a race car driver and as a race team, all my fans, my friends and certainly it’s the only thing I’ve known since I was a teenager. That’s the only thing I’ve thought about, even when I should have been thinking about school and different things when I was a teenage, I was thinking about my race car and what I could do. So that process was tough, but once it was clear to me in my heart, in my gut after some quiet time and prayer and things like that, it was a pretty easy decision once I got to that point. The process was tough and it was hard to think about all of those things and change is difficult sometimes, but once I got to a point where I was at ease and content and I knew that was where God wanted me to go, it was a pretty easy decision.”

WHAT WILL YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT YOUR TIME AT THE CUP LEVEL AND IS THERE ANYTHING YOU REGRET? “I certainly made a lot of dumb mistakes as a kid. As a 21-22 year old guy in the sport I felt like I missed out on some race wins at different places, but that’s just part of growing and learning and I did the best I could with what knowledge I had then, I just wasn’t as smart back then as I feel like I am today, or experienced. I have so many great memories from just getting that phone call from Jack Roush that I’m gonna get to go drive a Truck Series part-time with Mark Martin to moving up into the Cup Series and making that first start at the Daytona 500 to your first pole to your first win. Those are all great memories, but probably the biggest is just the relationships that I’ve built inside the garage. I’ve got some great friends that I’ll always continue to be friends with, my wife will be friends with and our kids will be friends with their kids throughout the last 12 years of hanging out, flying with each other, racing with each other, being teammates with one another. Those will be relationships that will carry on a lot longer than any driving career will.”

WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL SCENARIO FOR STAYING IN RACING? “I have turned down a lot of opportunities over the past few years to run a one-off sports car race, maybe a Truck race, even as simple as my Legend’s car or a short track race at some of the premier short track races around the country. That’s something I have a passion for and that is something I grew up doing, and I think it’s very important that the NASCAR guys give back to the short tracks. A lot of them do currently, but I felt like it was a distraction with my focus level at the Cup level for Front Row Motorsports and Ford Motor Company that I didn’t need to go and do some of those other things, so I would love to run the 24 Hours of Daytona. I would love to go to Eldora and run the Truck race. I love the short tracks. I love some big late model races around the country. I still have my Legend’s car and they have a great Summer Shootout Series in Charlotte that is 10 minutes from my house, but it was always difficult to go over on a Tuesday evening during the summer months to go. So some stuff like that. If there’s a right Cup opportunity at a track that I can succeed at and have fun at, I think I would consider that, but it would need to be the right situation with the right team and the right group. I don’t have anything planned out now. We’ll kind of see how that shakes out, but I definitely still want to sit behind the wheel of race car and go and compete some.”

WHERE DOES RUNNING 30TH IN POINTS PLAY IN THIS DECISION? IS IT FRUSTATING TO KNOW YOUR LAST YEAR ISN’T GOING TO BE WHAT YOU WANTED, OR IS IT EASIER? “It’s definitely a big part of that. If I were racing for a Playoff spot, it would be a little tougher decision, but I still think I would get to the same conclusion. I still think that that is a part of how excited or how happy you are on race weekends, and you have to make that decision on what the sacrifice is worth. Is it worth leaving your family and leaving important times with your kids and different things going on at home to go and struggle on weekends? That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun sometimes, so, yeah, it did play a part in the decision-making process. I still have the hope that we can clean our act up and get rid of some accidents and part failures and DNFs and try to improve on that some and finish the year on a good note. We certainly don’t need to finish 30th in points. That wouldn’t be any good at all, but that does play a role. If you’re winning races and contending for championships, I feel like the money is better when that is the case and you can justify that sacrifice to keep going a little bit longer.”

HOW DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO REMEMBER YOU AS A PERSON AND A DRIVER? “I really haven’t thought about that. That’s a great question. I think first off we should be remembered for who we are, maybe not the accomplishments that we had and the trophies that we have, and the amount of zeroes in our bank account. Those are all material things that come and go. When I’m dead in the ground down the road that stuff doesn’t make any difference. It’s the impact you have on others and what you do for your family, for others that you care about, so I hope that they remember me as a good guy and a guy who loved the Lord and loved my family and loved racing. That’s kind of who I am. I’m not that flashy of a guy. I don’t care too much about how many followers I have on social media or what my brand is, and I think that hurt me a little bit over time, but that’s something that on that spectrum I don’t care too much about. I think it all depends on how you interact with other people and what you do to help and serve others.”

ANY WHAT-IF MOMENTS? “Oh sure, absolutely. I think people would be lying if you didn’t go back and think, ‘Man, what if?’ What if I would have gotten a driver coach and had a couple different mentors when I was a rookie or coming off of a great season in 2008? Could that have changed the course? I wonder if I would have won the Daytona 500 and not changed lanes before the start-finish line would UPS have stayed at Roush and things would have went on? So, sure, but that’s kind of fun to go back and laugh and joke about, but we don’t live in a world of what-ifs. I’m humble enough to go back and think about those things. It doesn’t affect me. It doesn’t keep me up at night. Sometimes it’s just a good laugh and a good story.”

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT FEELS INCOMPLETE? “I always wanted to race for a championship and win a championship. I mean, everybody that gets to this elite level you want to be the best, but I think that some of those titles and trophies and achievements that they’re only short-term victories. I mean, that’s something that just leaves you wanting more. The real things in life that have true contentment are how your kids love you and how you have an impact with others in your community, and what kind of marriage you have and stuff like that. I think those are the things that really matter. If I would have had a few more wins or that championship, I don’t think I would be any different now, and I think if you ask any of these guys in the garage that have won more races and won more championships, it’s never enough. You always want more and that’s obviously the goal of the sport that we’ve competed in and that’s what we live by and die by in the sports and entertainment world, but that’s certainly not what defines me. So, no, I don’t really have anything that I look back on and say,’ Hey, if I would have won five more races or 10 more or even 20 more would that change who I am?’ Probably not. You’d have a few more trophies at the house, but that really doesn’t mean a whole lot at the end of the day.”

HAS THE SPORT’S SUCCESS WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED ALLOWED YOU TO HAVE THE FREEDOM TO MAKE THIS DECISION ABOUT THE KIND OF LIFE YOU WANT TO LIVE FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY? “Absolutely. I was very fortunate to come in at a time where drivers made more money, sponsors were spending a lot of money and there was just generally more money flowing through. I was very lucky that I had conservative parents and family members that kept me grounded and didn’t let me go wild and that they stashed all the money back home in Unadilla, Georgia, so I couldn’t get it. Yeah, being in a financially stable situation certainly made the decision better. I think you have to have an income, a job and resources to take care of your family – that’s an important role in being a father and a husband, but being able to have the necessary things to live our life and continuing the life that we currently live is a blessing and it’s something that I don’t take for granted, but it’s also a timing thing.”

A LOT OF THOSE GUYS STAYED TOO LONG. “There’s a sweet spot. I look back over the last 30-40 years and some of those guys stayed a few years longer because the money was getting so good in the late nineties and early 2000s. I have reached out and called a few of the guys that retired and talked to them and nine out of 10 of them said, ‘I raced two or three years too long, but the money was too good. I wanted that one more win. I wanted, wanted, wanted, and looking back it really wasn’t worth it.’ So that was some really good advice that a few different guys gave me. To answer your question, absolutely. The timing of my career was really good. I still think that drivers coming in today can make a great living, but it’s hard to be disciplined living on a budget in this garage when sometimes the more flashy you can be, the cooler you think you are, so I’m glad I never really got caught up in that.”

ANY INTEREST IN DOING TV OR POLITICS? “I follow politics a little bit, but, man, that’s a pretty hostile environment today, so I don’t know that I could do that. Maybe like a community role in some way, shape or form – something small, but anything on the state or federal level would be more than I think I would be willing to do. I don’t know that I’d want to put my family through that. That may not be good, but the TV role that I’ve had in a small case at Fox doing some of the Race Hub analyst work has been very good and a lot of fun, and we’ll have some of those discussions over the next couple of months and see if I can stay involved in some way, shape or form in that.”

WILL YOU STAY INVOLVED WITH THE SHRINERS? “Yeah. I’m still an advocate for the great things that the Shriners Hospitals for Children are doing. I’m a member of the Shriners fraternity, so I’ll be able to do some other things that I haven’t been able to do in the past. I get a lot of requests to go and speak at different functions that are raising money and awareness for the Shriners or for even kids with disabilities. A lot of you guys know my brother has Down’s Syndrome and is a big race fan and around, so I’ve had to turn down most of that kind of stuff because the functions are on Friday nights or Saturdays and I’ve been at the race tracks, so there will be some different things that I can do that I haven’t had a chance to even consider over the last 10 years. Who knows how that will all shake out, but I’ll still love telling my story, telling my family’s story and talking about my brother Adam and his impact on my life, and then certainly the great things that the Shriners are doing.”

DIDN’T JACK PUT YOU FULL-TIME XFINITY AND CUP IN THE SAME SEASON TO START? “I was a rookie in XFINITY and Cup, running for both Rookie of the Year in the XFINITY and the Cup Series in ’07.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK AT THAT TIME ABOUT THE SITUATION AND HOW DO YOU VIEW THAT TODAY? “Back in ’06 I ran a part-time Truck schedule. I think I ran 15 or 16 races and I had just come off of running a part-time ARCA Series schedule, so I think the last full-time series I ran in anything was like a Legend’s car in 2003. So when they said, ‘Hey, we want to move you to the 6 car, we’re also gonna move you to a full-time XFINITY car so you can get some experience.’ At the time I thought, ‘I can do this. I love racing. I’m a driver. I can go fast. Let’s go.’ And we go to the Daytona 500 and we run fifth and we go to California and we run like 14th, and we’re sitting sixth in points and I’m like, ‘Man, this is pretty easy. I’ve got this.’ And then reality set in and that rookie season was OK, but we struggled. It was so hard soaking in everything. Like I mentioned earlier, I kind of thought I was just a fast race car driver, but I did not know how to race 500 miles and I didn’t know how to take care of my equipment and I didn’t know how to be driving at 90 percent sometimes and 100 percent at times – what it takes to win these 500-mile races. I learned a lot, kind of got thrown in the fire and that’s the way some things go. I do feel bad for some of the kids in today’s world that think they have to be a full-time XFINITY driver at 18 and in the Cup Series by 19 or 20 because it’s hard, and I think if you go and ask some of the young drivers who got a second chance, and I think of Joey Logano all the time – one of the best drivers in the garage today – and the guys at Gibbs kind of threw him out and they thought he might not be able to make it, so I think there is something about establishing your foundation, getting your confidence, and maturing all together. I didn’t have any choices back then. I was just ready to go and race, but looking back at it, it was hard. It’s a miracle that I was able to survive and, like I said, keep a job for the next 12 years because those first couple of years were tough. That’s the world we live in and some drivers can get thrown in those situations and succeed right off the bat. I heard Harvick talking a little bit about Chase and Ryan Blaney and some of these guys. It’s hard in the Cup Series. There’s 25 really good drivers and teams and it takes a few years to kind of get that foundation and everything established.”

IS IT SORT OF UNREASONABLE FOR SOMEONE THAT AGE WHO IS PRESENTED THAT OPPORTUNITY TO THINK ABOUT THE LONG-TERM? “Yeah, it is unreasonable because as a kid you’ve got to take it. I think if I had to do it all over again, I would take it too. It really makes you mature at a quick and young age. There’s nothing that could come across me today that would scare me as much as some of the pressure that was on me when you’re talking about millions of dollars being spent on marketing and development and you’re expected to go hop in a race car and go win, and that’s tough for a 19-year-old or 20-year-old, but you’ve got to take those opportunities and make them run.”

WHAT DID BEING A DRIVER IN NASCAR TEACH YOU THE MOST? AND IS THERE SOMETHING YOU’D REALLY LOVE TO DO? “The SiriusXM post-race show. I think being a race car driver, like I was explaining, you’re not only racing for yourself and your family, but you’re racing for thousands of employees that are supporting the motorsports program at Ford Motor Company, your sponsor that may have thousands of employees, thousands of race fans, and everybody is counting on you to go fast, say the right things, interact with your friends and family and different people at a Q&A session or autograph session, so there are a lot of responsibilities and a lot of pressure on a race car driver, and I think some of the things I’ve learned is how to manage some of those expectations, how to deal with a lot of stress, kind of how to manage that, but I think how to work with the team and be a team player and think about your scheduling and what you want over the course of a weekend, over the course of a year. You’re really a CEO of all those moving parts and pieces, so whatever drivers do post-driving career, whether it’s in business or a local community setting or your family, it really teaches you a lot of valuable life lessons at a young age. You learn how to live with defeat on a regular basis. If you win five races in a year, you’ve had a great season, but you’ve lost 33, so you lose a lot more than you win in this sport, so you learn how to deal with those low times, you learn how to manage expectations, so there are so many life lessons to be grateful for, that I’m grateful for that I’ve learned, and there were a lot of hard times over the past 15 years. I’m grateful that I’ve had good sponsors, great car owners, good mentors that really helped me out a lot. I probably should have been fired several times over the course of the years, but I was always able to kind of hang in there and grateful for those life lessons.”

LOCATION: BRISTOL, TENNESSEE
EVENT: NASCAR CUP SERIES (RACE 24 OF 36)
TUNE IN: 7:30 P.M. ET, SATURDAY, AUG. 17 (NBCSN/PRN/SIRIUSXM)

Chase Elliott
No. 9 Hooters Spirits Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Driver Chase Elliott   Hometown Dawsonville, Georgia
Age 23                       Resides Dawsonville, Georgia

2019 Season
7th in standings
23 starts
2 wins
3 pole positions
7 top-five finishes
9 top-10 finishes
489 laps led

Career
136 starts
5 wins
7 pole positions
40 top-five finishes
68 top-10 finishes
1,732 laps led

Track Career
7 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
2 top-five finishes
3 top-10 finishes
166 laps led

HOOTERS SPIRITS: Last month, Hooters announced that Chase Elliott would pilot the No. 9 Hooters Spirits Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The scheme comes ahead of the Fall 2019 launch of Hooters’ premium line of spirits that will be available at Hooters restaurants and select retailers.

OUT FRONT AT BRISTOL: In Elliott’s previous seven starts at Bristol, he has led a total of 166 laps – the third-most laps he has led at any track.

‘LAST GREAT COLOSSEUM’ STATS: This weekend, Elliott will make his eighth NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. In his first seven starts at the 0.533-mile oval, he has collected two top-five finishes, three top-10s and one pole award (April 2019). In Elliott’s five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track, he earned one top-five finish and finished in the top 10 in all five events.

LAST TIME AT BRISTOL: After earning the pole position for the April event at Bristol Motor Speedway, Elliott and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team crossed the finish line in 11th despite being involved in multiple on-track incidents and losing power steering for the majority of the race.

GUSTAFSON AT BMS: No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson will call his 29th Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway from atop the pit box this weekend. In his previous 28 races calling the shots for five different drivers (Elliott, Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon) at the Bristol, Tennessee, track, Gustafson has collected eight top-five finishes – including a win in 2007 with Busch and two runner-up results – and 766 laps led.

SEE ELLIOTT: On Saturday, Aug. 17, at 3 p.m. local time, Elliott will participate in an exclusive question-and-answer session for fans that have purchased the Chase Elliott Ticket Package. He will also stop by the Team Chevy Stage at 4:55 p.m. local time for a question-and-answer session. Fans can find the Team Chevy stage in the Fan Zone at Bristol Motor Speedway.

NASHVILLE: In July, Elliott headed to Nashville to promote the upcoming Bristol night race. He joined the Tennessee National Guard in a Black Hawk helicopter and met with members of the military before heading to Fairgrounds Speedway to give them and media members a ride around the track in the Bristol Motor Speedway pace car. Take a look at Elliott’s day here.

William Byron
No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Driver William Byron   Hometown Charlotte, North Carolina
Age 21                         Resides Charlotte, North Carolina

2019 Season
12th in standings
23 starts
0 wins
3 pole positions
2 top-five finishes
8 top-10 finishes
180 laps led

Career
59 starts
0 wins
3 pole positions
2 top-five finishes
12 top-10 finishes
241 laps led

Track Career
3 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
0 laps led

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will be available to members of the media on Friday, August 16, at 4:10 p.m. local time in the Bristol Motor Speedway media center.

POINTS, POINTS, POINTS: Trying to secure his place in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, William Byron continues to pad his position above the cut-off line. After a solid run at Michigan International Speedway last weekend, the sophomore driver now sits 89 points above the cutoff line with three races left in the regular season. In fact, over the last 11 races, Byron has gained 104 points on the bubble, gaining points in all but two races in that span.

STAYING HOT IN THE SUMMER: Continuing his hot streak during the summer months, Byron isn’t showing signs of slowing down any time soon. In the last three races, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has started within the top three positions twice and has gone on to finish in the top 10 twice and in the top five once across those same three races. Also, in two of those three races, the driver of the No. 24 was ranked in the top eight in points earned. Byron has collected track-best finishes in seven of the last eight races, a stat he would like to continue this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

LIBERTY U RETURNS: For back-to-back weekends, Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will carry Liberty University on board starting with last Sunday’s race at Michigan and again with the night race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Returning as a primary sponsor of the No. 24 team in 2019 for 12 races, Liberty University has a long history with Byron starting back in 2014 in the late model ranks and is in the midst of its fifth season of sponsoring the 21-year-old driver. Liberty University has been Training Champions for Christ since it was founded in 1971. Located in the mountains of Central Virginia, Liberty is a liberal arts institution with 17 colleges and schools that offers more than 600 degree programs from the certificate to the doctoral level, on campus and online. Working on an undergraduate degree in business communication, Byron is now in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program.

BATTLE AT BRISTOL: This weekend, Byron will make his fourth NASCAR Cup Series start and his seventh national series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. His best Cup race at the “Last Great Colosseum” came a few months ago this season, when the driver of the No. 24 qualified second, lining up alongside Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. Despite early damage, he was able to rally to a track-best finish of 16th. In the Xfinity Series, Byron’s best finish at the 0.533-mile concrete oval was a 12th-place effort in spring 2017. He collected a fourth-place finish in his lone Truck Series start at the venue, leading one lap in the process. In his K&N start at the track, Byron led 44 laps before coming up just shy of the win with a runner-up finish.

CLOSE TO HOME: Chris Burkey, the pit crew coach for the Nos. 9 and 24 teams, hails from Greeneville, Tennessee, which is only 47 miles southwest of Bristol Motor Speedway. Burkey has an extensive background in coaching, getting his start in football. He played football for Wingate University, where he eventually started his coaching career. Burkey coached college football from 1992 to 2005 for Wingate, East Tennessee and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2005, he joined the NFL’s Miami Dolphins as a scout. Looking for a new challenge, Burkey made the transition from football to NASCAR when he was hired as a developmental pit crew coach for Hendrick Motorsports in 2009. He moved up to the head coach position for the former Nos. 5 and 24 teams in 2014.

CHEVY STAGE: Byron will make an appearance at the Team Chevy stage at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 17, at 4:15 p.m. local time. Fans can visit the Chevy stage in the Fan Zone to see the question-and-answer session with Byron.

MICHIGAN MOMENTS: Starting off last weekend at Michigan International Speedway by qualifying a track-best third, Byron fought a loose No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 throughout the majority of the first stage of the race but was still able to collect top-five stage points. Still fighting handling issues during Stage 2, No. 24 team crew chief Chad Knaus utilized pit strategy to help the sophomore driver finish the stage in eighth and set him up to make it to the end of the race with one more pit stop. As the laps began to wind down and most of the field was close on fuel, Byron took advantage of the situation to work his way within the top 10 running order. At the 10-to-go mark, Knaus told Byron to begin saving fuel, as well. Running out of fuel as he took the checkered flag, Byron picked up a track-best eighth-place finish, his eighth top-10 result of the 2019 season. He has now doubled his top-10 total from his Rookie of the Year campaign, when he collected four top-10s in 2018.

RECORD-SETTING POSSIBILITY: Two of the three youngest drivers to claim a victory at Bristol have driven for Hendrick Motorsports. If Byron were to win the race this weekend, it would not only be his first Cup Series victory but would solidify him as the youngest driver to win at the track.

Jimmie Johnson
No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Driver Jimmie Johnson   Hometown El Cajon, California
Age 43                             Resides Charlotte, North Carolina

2019 Season
18th in standings
23 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
3 top-five finishes
8 top-10 finishes
81 laps led

Career
638 starts
83 wins
36 pole positions
227 top-five finishes
360 top-10 finishes
18,784 laps led

Track Career
35 starts
2 wins
1 pole position
12 top-five finishes
21 top-10 finishes
914 laps led

FINISHING AT BRISTOL: Jimmie Johnson has turned in three straight top-10 performances at Bristol Motor Speedway, which is tied for the longest active streak at the track. Among drivers to compete in each of the last 11 Bristol races, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has the best average finish at the 0.533-mile venue since 2014 (8.45).

STAGE RACING PERFORMANCE: Since the implementation of stage racing at Bristol, Johnson has fared very well. Out of 15 stages, the the 43-year-old driver has scored a top-five finish in seven of them and a top-10 finish in all but two. He has finished all 15 stages inside the top 15, with a lowest stage result of 14th.

BABY DANIELS WATCH CONTINUES: No. 48 team crew chief Cliff Daniels and wife Shannon are expecting their first child any day now. In the event Baby Daniels makes his or her way into the world over the weekend while the No. 48 team is on track at Bristol Motor Speedway, the plan would be for Daniels to return to Charlotte, North Carolina, to be present for the baby’s arrival. In that case, Hendrick Motorsports technical director Darian Grubb would call the race for the No. 48 Ally team. Grubb is no stranger to the pit box, or Victory Lane, as a crew chief, having won a NASCAR Cup Series championship with NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart. He has 23 wins in his career, including a Daytona 500 win with Johnson as an interim crew chief subbing for Chad Knaus.

LAST BRISTOL WIN: The driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 scored his last win at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 24, 2017. It was the seven-time champion’s 82nd career win, and he led 81 laps after starting 11th. Johnson has led 914 laps at Bristol in his career and claims 14 total short-track wins, which is the second-most among active drivers.

JIMMIE, BIG & RICH: On behalf of partner Ally, Johnson will introduce multi-platinum country-music super duo Big & Rich on Thursday night in the Earhart Campground at Bristol Motor Speedway at 9 p.m. local time for a concert after the Truck Series race. Visit BristolMotorSpeedway.com for more details.

ALLY SWAG(GER): Ally brand ambassadors will help fans get their “Ally Swag(ger)” on once again this weekend. Fans at the track, will have the opportunity to update their Team 48 gear with the Ally colors if they find brand ambassadors in the campgrounds at BMS this weekend. Follow @AllyRacing on Twitter for exact locations and updates.

ACTIVE IRONMEN: Johnson is tied with fellow competitor Ryan Newman for the longest active streak of consecutive races started with 635 straight. That ties the two drivers for seventh all-time in that category. Jeff Gordon owns the all-time streak with 797 consecutive races started.

Alex Bowman
No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Driver Alex Bowman   Hometown Tucson, Arizona
Age 26                         Resides Charlotte, North Carolina

2019 Season
10th in standings
23 starts
1 win
0 pole positions
4 top-five finishes
7 top-10 finishes
182 laps led

Career
140 starts
1 win
2 pole positions
7 top-five finishes
21 top-10 finishes
456 laps led

Track Career
7 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
1 top-five finish
2 top-10 finishes
0 laps led

ON BOWMAN’S SIDE: The primary blue-and-white colors of Nationwide will adorn the hood of Alex Bowman’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for this Saturday night’s event at Bristol Motor Speedway. As the No. 88 team’s majority partner, Nationwide will be featured in 20 NASCAR Cup Series events in 2019. After this weekend’s race, the sponsor will be back on board the No. 88 machine at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September for the regular-season finale.

BOWMAN’S BRISTOL PERFORMANCE: The driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevy has seven previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol. His best finish at the 0.533-mile speedway in Tennessee came in 2018 when he brought home a fifth-place finish after 500 laps in the spring. The Tucson, Arizona, native has two starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the track. In the series, he earned one top-15 finish (2013) at the track.

GET YOUR MERCH: Bowman will make an appearance at the Hendrick Motorsports/JR Motorsports merchandise trailer at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. local time. Be sure to stop by and purchase your No. 88 gear and get an autograph.

IVES AT ‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST HALF MILE’: No. 88 team crew chief Greg Ives will make his 10th NASCAR Cup Series start atop the pit box at Bristol Motor Speedway. In his nine previous starts, he has two top-five finishes and four top-10s. Ives’ best finish of second came back in 2016 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind the wheel. In 2013 and 2014, Ives was a crew chief at JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and claimed one top-five finish and three top-10s at Bristol. Ives’ drivers led 59 laps in the series at the 0.533-mile track and completed 99.7 percent of the total laps run. As a race engineer for the No. 48 team at Hendrick Motorsports from 2006-12, he was a part of one win, two pole awards and eight top-10 finishes at Bristol.

TEAM CHEVY APPEARANCE: On Saturday, Aug. 17, Bowman will visit the Team Chevy stage in the Fan Zone at Bristol Motor Speedway at 4:40 p.m. local time.

MICHIGAN REWIND: Last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series visited Michigan International Speedway. Bowman and the No. 88 team qualified fourth for the 200-lap event. In a race full of fuel mileage strategy, the team knew that it would come down to track position and smart calls from the box. Bowman finished Stage 1 in the eighth position, earning the team valuable stage points. Starting Stage 2 in fourth, the driver was able to stay inside the top-five until 15 laps to go in the stage, when the team elected to make a green-flag pit stop. When an untimely caution was shown just a few laps later, Bowman ultimately ended Stage 2 in the 19th position. Starting the final stage in the 13th position, he was able to gain three positions to finish the event in 10th. This finish marked the seventh time this season that the No. 88 team has finished inside the top 10.

GOOD GUYS CRUISIN’ TO MIAMI: Nationwide is giving one lucky fan the chance to win the ultimate fan experience for two at the final Cup Series race of the 2019 season. Upload a photo of you and your ride for a chance to win an amazing weekend in Miami. The winner will receive airfare, hotel accommodations, weekend hot passes, a meet and greet with Bowman and Earnhardt and more. Click here to learn more.

Hendrick Motorsports

BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY STATS: Hendrick Motorsports owns 11 wins at Bristol Motor Speedway, and its 12 pole positions at the 0.533-mile track are the most of active organizations. Chase Elliott most recently added to that total by capturing the pole earlier this season at Bristol in April. In addition, the organization has earned 58 top-five finishes, 105 top-10s and 5,901 laps led at the track since 1984.

RECENT SUCCESS: Since the start of the 2018 season, the organization has competed well in its 12 starts at Bristol. In that span, Hendrick Motorsports drivers have earned three top-five finishes, which is tied for the second-most among all teams. The organization’s six top-10s in that time are the second-most, its 150 laps led are the fifth-most and its average finish of 13.17 is the fourth-best.

SIX MAKE 11: At Bristol, Hendrick Motorsports has won eight times in the spring race and three times in the summer event. Those 11 wins have come courtesy of six different drivers – Jeff Gordon (five), Jimmie Johnson (two), Darrell Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne.

SHORT TRACK STARS: Hendrick Motorsports leads all active teams at short tracks, claiming the most wins (50), poles (51), top-five finishes (221), top-10s (377) and laps led (20,851).

ON THIS DATE: The last NASCAR Cup Series race to be held on Aug. 17 was run at Michigan International Speedway in 2014. In the 400-mile event, Hendrick Motorsports had all four drivers lead laps, combining to lead 95 of 200 laps throughout the race. The organization collected the win and three top-10 finishes – Gordon took home the victory with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in fifth and Johnson in ninth.

THREE OR MORE TOP-10s: In the 2019 season, there have been five races in which at least three Hendrick Motorsports cars finished in the top 10. That ranks as the second-most this season behind Joe Gibbs Racing. Hendrick Motorsports accomplished the feat at Dover International Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Chicagoland Speedway in June and, most recently, Michigan International Speedway last weekend.

PLAYOFF POSITIONING: Three Hendrick Motorsports drivers are currently in position to make the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at the end of the regular season. That ties the organization for the second-most drivers in playoff contention. Elliott and Alex Bowman have essentially locked in their spots by finding Victory Lane and rank seventh and 10th, respectively, in the point standings. William Byron is currently 12th, with Johnson just 12 points shy of the cut-off line in 18th.

ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 12 championships, 255 race victories, 222 pole positions, 1,061 top-five finishes and 1,819 top-10 finishes in points-paying NASCAR Cup Series competition. Its teams have led more than 68,600 laps since 1984.

QUOTABLE /
Chase Elliott on the track surface at Bristol and PJ1:
“It has some more grip than the regular asphalt or concrete, or so it seems. I feel like the amount they’ve been putting on it at Bristol has been really nice. I guess there was a rumor going around that they weren’t going to put it down this time. I’m not sure if that’s the case or not. But, I think it would be a big mistake if they didn’t. In my opinion, the top is already the preferred lane. And I think it will continue to be the preferred lane. It was even with the grippy stuff down. So, I think it gives the bottom a little bit bigger chance for the majority of the race, at least. And then the top tends to prevail, as momentum will, I guess, over time. Yeah, I think it was good. I thought what they’ve been doing there was pretty nice.”

Elliott on his confidence going into Bristol:
“I always look forward to going to Bristol. It’s a cool place. I was able to get a pole there at the beginning of the year, which was nice. We’ve had some hit-or-miss runs there. It’s been kind of odd. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a lot of consistency. I thought we had an OK car there in the spring. We’re just trying to build on that. I always look forward to that race. It’s a really fun week and always a great event to watch, for sure, and to be a part of it is pretty cool, too.”

William Byron on the night race at Bristol:
“I try not to focus on it too much. It’s a really exciting race as a fan but as a driver it’s a stressful race. You really have to manage yourself and your car for all 500 laps. You can’t put yourself in a position to take yourself out of contention early on because it’s so hard to recover. You try to treat it like any other race but it’s a cool one to win if you can.”

Byron on PJ1 helping at Bristol compared to other tracks: “I feel like the PJ1 probably has the biggest impact at Bristol of all the races we have on the schedule in terms of the grip level of the bottom versus the top. It takes a long time for those two lanes to neutral out and equal in speed. The bottom is always faster for the initial laps, but it takes that progression for when you get about 10 laps into a run and then the top lane is the fastest way to go. It just depends on how much width they give the bottom when they treat it. If they give the bottom lane a wide width, then it tends to stay dominate longer and the progression is slower.”

Jimmie Johnson on heading into Bristol:
“My team did a great job preparing that car last week at Michigan. Even torn up we were passing cars. I got aggressive early and got into the fence – it was on me. We are focused forward and our eyes are on Bristol. (No. 48 team crew chief) Cliff (Daniels) has done a great job the past few weeks, the pit crew has been spot on and our performance at Bristol has been where it needs to be. Anything can happen at Bristol and it happens fast. The energy at this track is intense. I can’t wait.”

No. 48 team crew chief Cliff Daniels on Bristol:
“With the Bristol night race, there’s so much energy in the air. The high level of intensity at the track is so unique and so cool. What’s interesting is that if you look at the last four to five years for the 48 we’ve actually had decent success at Bristol relative to top-fives and we had that win a couple years ago. So, Jimmie (Johnson) gets around that place so well and he loves going there and loves the intensity of the racing and the action. Our team loves it. It’s a really fast-paced weekend the way practice and qualifying and race prep goes. It’s a really high-energy situation all around and I think we excel in those situations. Knowing how fired up Jimmie is right now, Bristol is going to be a blast.”

Bowman on Bristol Motor Speedway:
“I think Bristol is a track where you can carry over what you learned in previous events. It is a strong racetrack for the No. 88 team. Bristol is one of those tracks where it can be a great place if you have good track position. We need a good points weekend and a good finish to get us ready for the playoffs.”

Bowman on the upcoming off-weekend:
“It is always nice to take a weekend off and regroup. This No. 88 team works hard each and every weekend and definitely deserve a weekend off with their family and friends. We regroup on these off-weeks and figure out what we need to do better or more of in the weeks ahead to get ready for the playoffs.”

Michael McDowell on Bristol
18 Starts
Best Finish: 18th
“The night race at Bristol always has such an amazing atmosphere, but being the home track for our owner, it’s just a big deal for us at FRM. Bob Jenkins puts his heart and soul into this sport and this team. I really like running strong at Bristol to get Bob and his employees all excited.

But, even more important and just as cool, it’s such a big race for Love’s and their customers. They always bring a big group, and it’s fun to show them around, take photos and race hard for them. They also give so much to support our team and we want to show them a great night.

This is a great track for FRM. The field is really balanced and I can really drive the car and make a big difference. I’m going to be pretty motivated for Saturday night.”

‘World’s Fastest Half Mile’ on Deck as Playoff Picture Heats Up

Roush Fenway Racing heads to Rocky Top this weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) makes its return trip to Bristol Motor Speedway for 500 laps under the lights Saturday night. An RFR Ford has visited victory lane 18 times at The Last Great Colosseum across NASCAR’s three major touring series.

Bristol Motor Speedway
Saturday, August 17 | 7:30 p.m. ET
NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
·         Ryan Newman, No. 6 Acronis Ford Mustang
·         Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang

Good Ole’ Rocky Top

Roush Fenway rolls into Bristol with confidence knowing Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has six top-10 finishes in 13 starts at the track, with four of those top-five results. His teammate, Ryan Newman, is coming off a top-10 at the short track in the spring and overall has 19 top-10s in 35 starts. The two have 10 combined top-10s alone in the past nine Bristol races, while overall Stenhouse holds an average finish of 13th. Despite no Cup wins at Bristol, Newman does have an Xfinity Series victory (2005) as well as two wins in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (2010, 2011).

Runner Up

Roush Fenway’s storied history at Bristol began on April 10, 1988 with the No. 6 MENCS car earning a second-place finish. Since that time, in addition to the organization’s 11 MENCS wins at the track, Roush Fenway Fords have finished second at Bristol on 15 occasions (7 MENCS, 4 NXS, 4 NGOTS).

One-Two Punch

Roush Fenway’s most recent victory at Bristol came after sweeping the top two positions in the March 2014 event with former driver Carl Edwards taking the victory and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. coming home in second. Edwards led the final 78 laps of the event to earn the victory.

History and Hot Streaks at “Thunder Valley”

Roush Fenway’s history at Bristol has been one of hot streaks, including trips to victory lane in nine of the last 16 seasons at the famed short track. Roush Fenway swept the track in 2003 and put a MENCS car in victory lane at least once in every season from 2002-2008.

Thunder Rolls

Roush Fenway has earned five victories, 23 top-five finishes, 37 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 15.8 at Bristol in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Former Roush Fenway driver David Ragan earned the organization’s most recent Xfinity victory at the .533-mile short track in the Aug. 2009 event.

Tale of the Tape

Roush Fenway has started 328 races all-time at Bristol, recording 18 wins, 77 top-five and 132 top-10 finishes. RFR Fords have captured 18 poles at The World’s Fastest Half Mile and led more than 5,000 laps at BMS.

Where They Rank

·         Newman enters the weekend 16 points to the good in the playoff picture, sitting 15th with three races left in the regular season. He’s 10 points ahead of Clint Bowyer (16th) and 16 ahead of Daniel Suarez (17th).

·         Stenhouse likely needs a win at one of the next three events, currently sitting 21st in points.

Roush Fenway Bristol Wins
1993-2    Martin       Cup
1996-1    Martin       NXS
1997-1    Burton       NXS
1998-2    Martin       Cup
2002-1    Busch         Cup
2003-1    Busch         Cup
2003-2    Busch         Cup
2003-2    Busch         Cup
2004-1    Busch         Cup
2004        Edwards    Truck
2005-2    Kenseth    Cup
2006-2    Kenseth    Cup
2006       Martin      Truck
2006-2    Kenseth    NXS
2007-1    Edwards    NXS
2007-2    Edwards    Cup
2008-2    Edwards    Cup
2009-2    Ragan         NXS
2014 -1  Edwards    Cup

By the Numbers at Bristol Motor Speedway
Race      Win       T5           T10         Pole       Laps       Led        AvSt      AvFn     Miles
209         11           50           87           11           99126    3396       18.2        15.8        49563
98           5              23           37           4              24218    1653       13.2        15.8        12109
23           2              4              9              3              4097       318         12.6        14.5        2048.5
330         18           77           133         18           127441  5367       16.3        15.7        63720.5