Category: NASCAR Cup PR

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Saturday, July 27, 2019
EVENT: Gander RV 400 Qualifying

Ford Qualifying Results:
1st – Kevin Harvick
2nd – Joey Logano
3rd – Aric Almirola
10th – Daniel Suarez
14th – Brad Keselowski
16th – Clint Bowyer
17th – Michael McDowell
18th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19th – David Ragan
20th – Ryan Blaney
21st – Paul Menard
24th – Ryan Newman
27th – Matt Tifft
30th – Corey LaJoie

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Beer Gen X Ford Mustang

POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

IS THIS THE WEEKEND YOU CAN CROSS POCONO OFF YOUR LIST AND WIN? “We hope so. It has been a really good track for me and my guys and really the whole company know that we’d love to cross this one off – one of the last two of tracks that we haven’t won at. Like you say, it’s been a successful race track and the first race this year we had a great car and the right strategy and jacked it up and the steering box broke. It’s just kind of been one thing after another like that and tomorrow it’s gonna take a fast car, but it’s also gonna take everything falling your way so that you can get the strategy right. It’s restarts and pit strategy and all the normal Pocono things that you have to battle are still going to be the things you have to overcome. Track position and starting up front would obviously be nice to have.”

YOU’RE IN POSITION TO BREAK THROUGH BEING ON THE POLE. “That’s the best way to break those win streaks or whatever the streak is or whatever you’re doing on a daily basis is to consistently try to do it right, and our guys have done a good job. We scrambled today in practice and never even made a qualifying run in practice, so we worked on our race stuff as long as we could and never really felt like we got it 100 percent right. We weren’t bad, but I think as you look at that our car was pretty good after about lap six and I think as you get into the race tomorrow there’s gonna be a lot of two-tire strategy and a lot of green flag strategy. There’s gonna be a lot of unique times that you pit, so keeping yourself inside that time limit of that pit window is important to try to fulfill that strategy and keep yourself up front. We’ll see. I think as you look at the things that track position has meant this year, I think obviously having that tomorrow will be very important.”

DO YOU SUSPECT YOU GUYS WILL GRAVITATE TO THE PJ1 IN THE RACE TOMORROW? “Watching the Truck race I think it looked like it was pretty good in turn two, and Kyle made some passes on the outside without it last time, so I’ve got to believe with the trucks running through it some and us on the restarts two or three laps and lapped cars being on the inside and us having to go to the outside, it’s going to get run in some. I still think the preferred groove is going to be the bottom of the race track. I think the ultimate goal is to not have to be pinned behind the car, to have an option of that second lane and hopefully in at least one or two of the corners it comes in well enough to be equal to the bottom. I don’t think the race was what everybody wanted the first time. It’s going to be an improvement with the PJ1 on it, and I think as we go to the next race and know where we need to exactly put the PJ1, how high up the race track, the entries and exits, what those lengths are and shapes of the PJ1 as we put it down, we’ll have a lot more knowledge after the race. I think as you come back next time you’ll see more of a benefit, but I still think you’re going to see a benefit from it this time around.”

ARE YOU EXPECTING TOMORROW’S RACE TO LOOK ANY DIFFERENT FROM JUNE? “I think it’ll look different, and I think at some point you’re gonna have more options. It’s just gonna take enough people running up there to have it come in enough to really benefit and I think the restarts will probably be where you see it the most beneficial. I still don’t’ think the preferred line is going to be anywhere but the bottom of all three corners when you’re running by yourself, but if you can get up the race track and only lose a tenth or two, instead of seven or eight tenths trying to get around a car that’s off the pace or three-quarters of a second slower than you and you can make it work, that’s a game-changer and a step in the right direction.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON POCONO NEXT YEAR? “I didn’t have my phone all day, so I haven’t even read anything. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I try to just focus on what I’m doing, so I haven’t read about it yet. I’m sorry about that.”

NASCAR IS GOING TO TALK ABOUT RESTARTS TOMORROW AND THEY WILL START MAKING CALLS. IS THAT SOMETHING THEY NEED TO DO? WILL IT CHANGE? “Usually when they start talking like that somebody is gonna get penalized. I think for us, for me personally, I just try to control – every time I start jacking around I screw up myself, so I just try to roll in there and do what’s best for my RPM and my car. There are some guys that are different than others, that change things up in different spots and this and that, so, yeah, I think as you look at it, I watched qualifying live so I don’t understand why we can’t just officiate that with whatever it’s called – the SMT. I don’t know why you couldn’t just officiate it from SMT.”

SOMEBODY SAID SOMETHING ABOUT BRAKE CHECKS. “The pace car runs a certain mile an hour and you’re supposed to be within whatever that range is of that pace car speed, so that’s why I thought that was always the rule. I think it should be relatively easy from SMT.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Mustang – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE POCONO WEEKEND NEXT YEAR? “I like mixing things up. It will be really fun. I think it’ll be one of the events next year as a driver and probably me being a fan you’ll circle and say, ‘I can’t wait to see how this works out and what it looks like.’ I think it’s bit of the spice of life having a few changes in the NASCAR season for us.”

WERE YOU THE ONE WHO SUGGESTED THE INVERTED FIELD? “No, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”

NASCAR IS GOING TO TALK ABOUT RESTARTS. DOES NASCAR NEED TO START CRACKING DOWN? “That’s just part of the ebb and flow of the sport. The restarts calm down for a little bit and then they get crazy, and then they calm down and then they get crazy. I don’t think there’s a lot to be made out of it other than that.”

RESTARTS CAN BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WINNING AND LOSING. “This sport is set up for restarts to be critical. It’s not set up for long runs or for guys to really be able to work their cars and do things like that. This sport is set up for restarts to be kind of the key moment of racing for us with the way the sport is laid out. There’s always gonna be a lot of drama around them and I don’t expect that to ever change.”

ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT THE LAST COUPLE WEEKS THAT THINGS HAVEN’T GONE EXACTLY RIGHT? “We sat on the pole last week, so I can’t really complain about that. We’ve just barely missed a few things and have some things to clean up. You’ll have that in a long season, but we still want to fix it.”

HAVE YOU BEEN TRYING ANYTHING AT ALL? “We’re always trying things, it’s just some things a little more out of the realm than what you would try if you hadn’t won races, so sometimes yes and sometimes no.”

RYAN NEWMAN, No. 6 Performance Plus Ford Mustang – HOW BIG WAS LAST WEEK? “It was like a miniature victory. Our guys did a really good job of fixing the engine issue, starting last, and I didn’t realize as much as it was that there was oil on the race track when I spun in practice, so that made me feel a little bit better about it, but to start last three different times and then still finish in the top seven was pretty spectacular on a track that’s been notoriously hard to pass at.”

DID YOU FEEL YOU HAD A RACE-WINNING CAR IF YOU GOT UP THERE? “I think we could have. I know at one point in the race we passed the 4 and the 11, so if we could have got one more restart or another chance to put tires on, I guess they could probably say the same thing, but we were a top five car and that was nice to see.”

YOUR MINDSET WITH THE PLAYOFFS NEAR AND FIVE RACES TO GO? “Race to win. Just race to win.”

IS IT THE KIND OF THING WHERE YOU COULD LOOK BACK ON IT AND YOUR NEW HAMPSHIRE RECOVERY COULD BE WHAT SAVES YOUR PLAYOFF HOPES? “We were fortunate that we were able to do what we did because the guys that we were racing around had bad days. Yes, I could say that about that one especially, but I could say that about other ones as well. We didn’t unload off the truck the way we needed to here today, so we haven’t proved that we learned from our first race experience here, so that’s one of the things that’s bothering me today, but we still have a chance to qualify and see what we corrected and be ready for the race tomorrow.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – “We made a lot of changes from practice. We weren’t really happy with how we ended practice, so made a lot of changes there and I felt like we made it a lot better. We’ll see. I’m looking forward to the race.”

HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “It felt good. I felt like I got pretty much all of it. I might have left a little bit on the table, but I felt good about our lap. We made a lot of changes to our race car after practice. We weren’t really happy with our race car in final practice, so we made a lot of changes going into qualifying for the impound race procedure, so I wasn’t really sure what we were gonna have there and it kind of surprised me. I’m really happy with that. Our Smithfield Ford Mustang has got a lot of speed and now we’ve got to go race for 400 miles. Track position is really, really important here. It’s been important all year, but you saw places that have flat corners like Loudon last week and here, it’s gonna be really important.”

NASCAR IS GOING TO TALK TO DRIVERS ABOUT THE RESTARTS. YOU WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT LAST WEEK. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT? “It’s my understanding that rolling into the restart zone that we’re supposed to be wheel-to-wheel, door handle-to-door handle. It seems like more often than not the guy that’s in second place is usually on the bottom lane and he typically tries to roll to the restart zone to kind of build his momentum up, so he’s not at such a disadvantage when the leader goes. That’s not the way it’s actually supposed to be. It’s supposed to be wheel-to-wheel, door handle-to-door handle and, quite frankly right there at the end of the stage, I wanted to make sure. We were in position to win that stage and get a bonus point for the Playoffs and I wanted to make sure I did everything I could to get a good restart and get our front in clean air and win that stage. I wasn’t gonna let the 22 roll faster than me to the restart zone and then try to bait me into going. He actually throttled up and then slowed down, and when he slowed down I took off. So, yeah, I think the restarts have been interesting for quite some time now, depending on who is on the front row they get really stacked up and jumbled up. I think it’s a very gray area. It really is. I mean, there’s a lot of leeway there when the pace car pulls off. You’re supposed to maintain a relative pace car speed, which I felt like I did, and the guy in second is just always going to be trying to time the restart right and it’s the leader’s job to try and do everything he can to get an advantage on the restart. That’s why he’s the leader. A long time ago the leader had the advantage because of single-file restarts. Now with double-file restarts the leader’s only advantage is trying to mix up the timing to try and get a jump on the restart.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Toco Warranty/Haas Automation Ford Mustang – WHAT ABOUT ANTHONY SHERMAN DRIVING YOUR RACE CAR TO PRACTICE? “That was cool. Man, he called me a couple weeks ago and he was like, ‘Hey, is there any way you have a car or something I could use?’ I was like, ‘Let me work on it here.’ And the more I got to thinking about it I knew it’s a big deal – a professional football player reaches out to anybody for some help on something. He’s always made such a big spectacle of him showing up at camp, whether it’s his outfits or whatever the case may be. His nickname is the Sausage and, man, he’s got a following. I like people with personalities. Obviously, you guys know that and certainly there is no better personality with the Chiefs than him. I was worried about him getting in that car to be dead honest with you. He fit in it just fine, though. I reached out to Sparco and they made him a firesuit. I was like, ‘Dude, make it your touch,’ so of course a big football player with big arms all jacked up blows his sleeves out of it, but I thought he wore it good. It looked cool. It was fun. I’m glad he had fun with it.”

ARE YOU GOING TO WEAR A FOOTBALL HELMET OUT THERE? “Something has got to change. Maybe that’s what I need to do is wear a football helmet, but obviously I’m a big Chiefs fan. It was a big day for those guys getting their year started off and I was happy to help out. That’s what we do, man. Everybody helps out. It’s fun to help out people with fun things like that.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT A WEEKEND DOUBLEHEADER HERE NEXT YEAR? “Cool. A good idea. I think it’s time to shake a lot of things up in this sport, you know what I mean? You can’t just continue to do the same thing over and over and over and over and reinvent yourself every single time for a fan, and I think that goes for any sport or any event, whether it’s a country music festival or football game or a baseball game or a race. I think we’re all up against having to reinvent ourselves over and over and over to stay appealing and stay relevant to a fan that’s looking for something new. They expect to see something different or something that they didn’t see the last time or how do you expect to entice them in and bring them year after year. That’s a huge gain for a fan. I couldn’t imagine being able to take in all that. I’m a big advocate of if we’re gonna ask a fan, I don’t care if we ask them for two weeks or two days, you better fill their day up with content. These are race fans and they want to see cars on the race track and people putting on a show and it’s certainly gonna have that with that schedule, I can promise you that.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT INVERTING THE LEAD LAP CARS FOR THE START OF THE SECOND RACE? “That’s kind of old-school mentality. You race all over the country and watch my dirt late models race. They do that quite a bit. That’s a practice that is nothing new and it’s always something to enhance a feature and it’ll do that. It’ll do that for a little while, but the cream will always rise to the top like it does on those short tracks and the good cars will be up front when the time is right, but it’ll make it entertaining getting there.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT RESTARTS? “We’re just trying to gain a position. We’re all just trying. Restarts are so important to win a race or put yourself in position to get a good stage win or whatever it is it’s important to get up through the gears in the most efficient way for you. A lot of that depends on who is around you and it’s important that the control car as the leader is the control car and the leader is not at a disadvantage. You don’t want that, but you also don’t want the leader playing games that aren’t necessary to control the restart more than he should.”

WHAT’S THE DEFINITION OF NECESSARY? “I don’t think there should be brake checks and things like that coming to a restart zone. I think you should be able to maintain a speed and there should be a range of speed that should be OK – maybe from what the pace car speed is plus or minus five or six miles an hour is probably OK. Slowing down at a quick rate right before you go green just wrecks 20th-place pretty hard. It stuffs everyone up in the midpack and toward the back of the pack, but I also think if the cars behind in the second row have too much room, if they leave too much room between the cars, they’re gonna have a big run and the poor guy in the lead doesn’t stand a chance to defend it, so that needs to be enforced, and so does the second-place car, whether it’s no the inside or the outside. That car lays back too much and gets a big run, so, really if everyone is nose-to-tail like you’re supposed to be and side-by-side like you’re supposed to be, it’s really not much of an issue. It’s when everything loosens up and there’s a bunch of room behind you or beside you. That’s when the leader sometimes make decisions to try to maintain the lead that, in my book, isn’t the way – or at least from the rulebook isn’t the way it’s supposed to be and what they say in the driver’s meeting every week. Everything needs to be tight to be able to keep us all in check.”

HOW DID THE RESTART WITH YOU AND ARIC GO LAST WEEK? “I saw him stop really fast before we went green (laughing). I saw him do it the restart before, too, so I wasn’t surprised by it. If you’re him, why not? I don’t blame him for doing it. I don’t blame him at all. He got away with it the first time and he got away with it the second time. That’s the message sent.”

YOU GUYS ARE TRYING TO SNOOKER EACH OTHER RIGHT? “At times it’s like that, yeah. It’s gamesmanship. It’s part of the game.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang – “Pocono is a tough place. You can overdo it and screw up and lose about a half-a-second, and so I feel good with where we were in our mock run to where we were there picking up a few tenths and not screwing it up. You could so easily run a 53.5, instead of a 52.5, so you always feel like maybe you left a little bit on the table when you put in a good lap and you didn’t have a big moment, but I’m just really proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports. It was a busy week this week, but the Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang has been pretty solid and I’m pretty excited about the race. It’s definitely a big improvement from the first Pocono race, where we really struggled to find speed and balance. Today we’ve had a little bit of both and hopefully that will play well in the race tomorrow.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
POCONO RACEWAY
GANDER RV 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 27, 2019

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
5th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Freightliner Camaro ZL1
6th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
8th William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro Zl1
9th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1
15th Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Kevin Harvick (Ford)
2nd Joey Logano (Ford)
3rd Aric Almirola (Ford)
4th Erik Jones (Toyota)
5th Austin Dillon (Chevrolet)

NBCSN will telecast the Gander RV 400 at Pocono Raceway live at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, July 28. The NBC Sports Gold app will stream the race and live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 FREIGHTLINER CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 5th
“That was a heck of a lap for this team. I’m really proud of our Freightliner Chevy and all of our guys. This American Ethanol team has done a lot throughout the last two practices. I was not too happy; I was getting after it on the radio during the practices. They gave me what I needed right there and that was a heck of a lap. I tried to put all three corners together the best I could and it came together well for a shot at this pole. There are some really fast cars still to go, but I think that’s a good lap.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 8th
“It was OK. I think we will hold up alright. We were just a little bit loose, but overall, I think tomorrow is going to be about keeping the track position. I think we have a good car, so we’ll see what happened. For us as the 24 team, we’ve been pretty strong lately. Last week was a struggle until the race and we finished 12th in the race, which was good. We got some good stage points. For us, we’ve been on the up-tick, I guess. Unfortunately, the company as a whole has kind of been up and down. We’ve had a couple of cars good, a couple of cars bad. But it’s just circumstances most of the time. I think we’ve been OK; we just have to as a company put it together. I think we are on the right track for that.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS RACE?
“I feel good. I think practice was really good for us; we were top-five for both. If we can just keep that going, we are going to be in a good spot for tomorrow. It’s going to be about strategy too. We’ll see what happens.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 15th
“We’ve been awful all day and we made a lot of changes. As much as that lap wasn’t that good and isn’t going to be that good, it was so much better than what we had in practice. I’m pretty excited about that, just in how much better the race car drove because we threw literally everything at it and never touched it in practice. It feels good to get it a little bit better there in qualifying.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 23rd
“We sucked today. We crashed a car and it put us in a bad position for tomorrow. That pretty much set us up for failure by crashing that first car, that’s just kind of the way it goes. When you make stupid mistakes and qualifying really bad, it results in bad pit selection and bad track position. We’ll try to make the most of it.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 29th
HOW DID YOUR BACKUP CAR FEEL IN QUALIFYING?
“It just seemed slower, like the balance is crazy different than the other car.”

CAN YOU MAKE YOUR WAY THROUGH THE FIELD?
“There’s always different strategies and things, so yeah we can. As Chip (Ganassi) says, there’s a right strategy to win every race for every car. Maybe we’ll figure out that strategy and we able to have a good day.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO MILITARY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 32nd
“I’m feeling hopeful, I think. We really had a rough practice. We are hoping we can rely on past setups and our teammates to find something to help us out here. We are in a little bit of a hopeful mode, which isn’t always the best place to be in qualifying. I feel like we will race good tomorrow. We always seem to find our way once we get in the race. For some reason, we’ve just been off as far as finding the right package for this track.”

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 – Will start at the rear of the field due to engine change.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR ENGINE ISSUES.
“We were making adjustments throughout the first practice. I walked over to climb in the car and they were joking around, ‘hey, if you didn’t want to practice, you didn’t have to blow it up’. I thought they were joking; they were being serious. I don’t know if I did it or whatnot, but they were underneath the car making final adjustments for the second practice and it was leaking. They jacked it up and found the problems. We had to switch motors, so we didn’t get a second practice in. But the car drove decent in qualifying. For the adjustments I needed to make the car better, I felt like we stepped in the right direction on that. It’s unfortunate we start in the back, but I like restarts.”

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 Post-Qualifying Report
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Pocono Raceway – July 27, 2019

TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, Kevin Harvick*
2nd, Joey Logano*
3rd, Aric Almirola*
4th, ERIK JONES
5th, Austin Dillon*
7th, KYLE BUSCH
11th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
12th, DENNY HAMLIN
13th, MATT DIBENEDETTO
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

ERIK JONES, No. 20 Reser’s Main St. Bistro Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 4th
How have you been today?
“Good. We have had good speed. The Reser’s Camry has been fast. I thought with that lap we would have it. That’s kind of frustrating. We have a fast car and I thought we had a shot at the pole. It’s kind of frustrating, but we are starting upfront either way, so we will make a good day of it. We were good in race trim and I was pretty happy with it. That’s always a good feeling.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops/ Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 11th
How was qualifying?
“Today has been a challenge. I am a little disappointed in that run. I thought maybe that we could have gone a little bit faster than we did in practice and we went slower. I had a bit of a moment in the tunnel turn and lost some time. It’s just been a tough day.”

Can you compensate for it during the race?
“We will try to make the right adjustments for the race. Our car was really good on the long runs. We lacked a little bit of speed and a little bit of drive ability until really old tires. Then it started to come alive, so we will see if we can make some adjustments for tomorrow. I know Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and the guys will get it figured out and we will see what we can do with it.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Qualifying Position: 12th
How was your qualifying lap?
“We didn’t make a mock run, but we were pretty confident in our car in race trim. I under-drove turn three, which is not good and cost us some time there in qualifying. I know we have a fast car for the race.”

MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 95 Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota Camry, Leavine Family Racing
Qualifying Position: 13th
How do you feel about your qualifying performance?
“I got loose in turn one, so that cost us some speed there. The rest of the lap was really good. The car is better than it had been earlier in the day.”

Are you confident going into tomorrow after a strong performance in practice?
“I think we will be pretty decent. I think we will race better than we did in the first race. I feel good about it.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
POCONO RACEWAY
GANDER RV 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JULY 27, 2019

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO MILITARY CAMARO ZL1 Media Breakout Session Highlights:

HOW WAS YOUR PRACTICE? OBVIOUSLY, THERE WERE A COUPLE OF CARS THAT CRASHED DURING THAT FIRST PRACTICE.
“Yeah, I don’t know if it was due to the PJ-1 or not. I don’t really think so. I think it was just people pushing it to the edge to go faster and faster. We’ve kind of seen it the last couple of weeks, so everyone has figured out that you kind of have to be freer with these cars to gain speed. I think people were just pushing that limit. On our Geico Military Camaro, we just weren’t really happy with the balance on it. Hopefully in this second practice, we’ll hit on something and get better.”

DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WILL PUSH THE PJ-1 IN THE SECOND PRACTICE?
“It’s so fast here, it’s kind of a leap of faith to get up there and get on it. You get a Truck race on it and some more laps on it, I think it will slowly come in. I think the worse thing that could happen would be to reapply it before the race because I think it just takes so long for anyone to get up there and get on it.”

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FOR THE RACE?
“Right now, I think it’s going to be a lot like the first race. It will be a little bit tough to pass, unless the PJ-1 really changes the direction of the outcome. I feel like we are going to see a lot of what we saw in the first race.”

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RACE?
“It’s such a tough track. For me, it’s more of just trying to get our car to handle right. It’s one of those places where you just end up racing the track because the track position is so key. After about five or six laps, it’s hard to pass anyone. In practice, you just want to focus on having a car that you can run fast consistently with and we have a little room to grow there.”

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING FOR YOU HERE?
“I think getting the security of entry in all three corners, since they are all so different. To have the same balance from the time I turn off the wall into the corner to where I’m comfortable in being aggressive getting into the corner. That’s where we seem to be lacking the last couple of times we’ve been here. Our teammates have been pretty good. Daniel Hemric was pretty fast, Austin (Dillon) was getting a little better. So, we are looking at what they did to try to make our car better.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NASCAR MEMORY?
“I would say winning some of my first races in the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series. Those were some of my really fun memories. I’ve been coming to the race track since the day I was born, so I don’t really have any other memories besides NASCAR memories. It’s been a big part of my life.”

IT LOOKS LIKE CHEVY HAS STARTED TO TURN THE CORNER. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU GUYS ARE SEEING FROM THE CAMARO THAT YOU DIDN’T NECESSARILY HAVE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON?
“I think it’s just time and developing. Obviously, it has taken our guys a little bit longer to get up to speed. I think this year, as a whole, has been a lot better. I think off season, we gained some ground. But those other guys are still getting better and better each week too, so we have to keep the pace on as far as developing our car. I think we are going to end up in a good place. We are still a little bit behind, but a lot better than we were last year at this time. I think as a whole, we have to keep digging and make sure we don’t slow down.”

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

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
POCONO RACEWAY
GANDER RV 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JULY 27, 2019

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 Media Breakout Session Highlights:

WHAT ADJUSTMENTS DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS SEASON TO BE A LITTLE MORE SUCCESSFUL?
“We just need to finish the race where we are running. In Kentucky, we were 18th with six or seven laps to go and we ended up 23rd one lap down. We’ve been having great runs ever since the All-Star weekend. It seems like the stars have lined up for us at the end of the race. Once that happens, we will start clicking off some spots in the points. But we were just behind the eight-ball for so long at the beginning of the season and we just need to climb our way out of it. We will continue to fight.”

THIS IS A TRACK THAT YOU HAVEN’T HAD THE BEST LUCK TO BEGIN WITH. HOW DO YOU PUT THAT BEHIND YOU TO HAVE THE BEST WEEKEND POSSIBLE?
“Exactly that, go there and be fine. The digital stuff, that was the first race in the Cup car and had a lot of motions through there. The brakes, you don’t know until you touch them. If they aren’t there, hang on. We have so many other things to worry about than that. We just have to go out, make the right adjustments, make the right calls and get our Victory Junction Chevrolet speed where it needs to put together a run I was just talking about to finish out strong.”

IN PRACTICE, NOT A LOT OF GUYS WERE RUNNING IN THE PJ-1. DO YOU THINK THEY WILL START WORKING THAT IN DURING THE NEXT PRACTICE?
“No, to me, it just pointless here. It’s way out of the groove. Maybe in the Tunnel Turn on restarts, you will have a little bit of saving grace so it won’t be as sketchy. But Turn 1, I haven’t even seen it yet. I don’t think it will be a factor in the race though, but my opinion doesn’t matter.”

WERE YOU SUPRISIED ON THE INTEREST IN THE TATTOO?
“I knew that we wouldn’t reach 43,000 retweets in one day, which I was right. It was 38,000 I believe. But I didn’t put a timeline on it. I did up here and I said it didn’t happen, but then everyone said I was backing out. I’m not getting it on my arm like it was, I’m not that stupid (laughs). It’s a beautiful signature in all, but I’m not that heavily invested in having it take up my whole forearm. We’ll get it somewhere small; I don’t know where I’m going to get it.”

HOW HAS THIS EXPERIENCE BEEN FOR YOU, CONSIDERING YOU CAME OVER FROM THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES?
“It’s been fun, it’s been a battle ever since day one. I knew that it would be, being able to progress and move up in the ranks and get our cars better has been the task at hand every since I joined the 43 team. I knew we were behind a little bit and they called me up to help them better their program. I think we have done that at times and sometimes we have gone backwards and created a mess to get out of. It’s just what this sport produces. We will just continue to push on through the season and see what we can do for next year.”

WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN IMPROVE OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS?
“I think communication has gotten a little better. We are unloading with a fairly decent balance on our race cars and that helps out a lot. We are not way off; our speed might not show it, but that might just be the speed we have for that weekend and the feel of it. We’ve been unloading with some speed and we’ve put races together, we just haven’t been able to finish those races. Whether it’s a tire goes down or choose a bad line on a restart. We’ve continued to show speed. Take away Loudon last weekend, the speed we had off the truck was the same speed we had when the checkered flag fell. It was just kind of a miserable weekend for us. I’m excited about the next couple of races coming up. Once we get through Watkins Glen, we will go back to the tracks we’ve been to already and get something built up to see if we can improve our results. We are having a lot of fun. Even when we are struggling, we are able to dig deep with each other and move on.”

ON WATKINS GLEN, IT DOESN’T SEEM LIKE YOU’RE EXCITED TO GO THERE.
“I’m pumped. I didn’t care to go there last year because I tried so hard. I loved going to Sonoma this year. I don’t know where I ran, but I had a blast. I didn’t care, I didn’t care what happened. I was kind of embarrassed when I spun out like two seconds into practice (laughs), but after that, we continued to gain speed. Every time last year when I got on track at a road course, I seemed to slow down and that’s where I was frustrated. For me right now, it’s to learn as much as I can.”

TALK ABOUT YOUR PRACTICE SESSION.
“Our Victory Junction Chevrolet was a little tight. We just needed some front turn and it kept making it tighter. I felt like the track went through a couple of changes there. Those practice crashes took a lot of time out of our practice, so we only got three runs in. We will continue to work on it and get our car where we need it to be. It’s the same car we ran at the last race here and we were a top-twenty car, so I have the confidence coming into here. A top-twenty is a good day for us. The last ten laps are usually what takes us out, so we have to make sure all the stars align, put all of our eggs in the same basket and see what we can do.”

DO YOU THINK THEY WILL BE GOING HIGHER ON THE PJ-1?
“No, I haven’t even seen it in Turn 1 yet. It’s too far out of the groove. I think the layout of it is not what we want. Denny (Hamlin) has been leading that message; he sends us the group chat in what to expect. We’re trying to figure out where it was laid. Like I said earlier, it might give us some wiggle room on restarts, especially through the Tunnel Turn. But I think it’s just not laid in the proper lane for us to use.”

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

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

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
POCONO RACEWAY
GANDER RV 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JULY 27, 2019

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 Media Breakout Session Highlights:

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SEASON LIKE THIS WHERE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE JUST BEEN MAKING SO MANY MISTAKES?
“No, I mean 2015 I don’t really remember that year, I don’t really want to remember that year. But I just remember it being bad. I don’t know if we crashed a lot then or what. Lately, it’s just been a lot of mistakes on my part. Earlier in the year, it was just bad luck or whatever you want to call it. But lately, it’s just been my fault.”

WHAT CAN YOU PIN THAT TO?
“It’s probably just too aggressive at the wrong times. I just have to work on that and not make mistakes. I just hate it for everyone that I’m affecting from it; my guys on the 42 and even the guys on the 1 that are helping out. They shouldn’t have to do that, so I just have to stop.”

POCONO HAS BEEN A PRETTY DECENT TRACK FOR YOU. DOES THAT HELP YOU REFOCUS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND?
“Yeah, I’m fine and I think our team is fine too. We are still confident that we are going to be good. Before I wrecked, I was really happy with my car. I feel like we were going to keep getting better, so at least I know we have a good setup. Obviously, the backup car usually isn’t as good as the primary, so that stinks. But we will hopefully be fine and like you said, it’s been a good track for us.”

YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO SORT OF LET THINGS GO. HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED IN YOUR CAREER BEFORE?
“Yeah, I feel like I’ve always done a good job of just moving on and trying to forget. I learn from what I did, but move on, forget about it and do better next time. Obviously, you have to be a little cautious now that you don’t have a backup car. But we’ll be fine.”

DOES THAT PUT YOU AT A DISADVANTAGE NOW THAT YOU HAVE TO BE CAUTIOUS?
“For the rest of today, maybe. But, once we get in the race tomorrow, everything is normal.”

DO YOU THINK THE TRACTION COMPOUND HAD ANY AFFECT TO IT?
“No, I don’t think so. I got loose lower out of it and just over-corrected it. I hit the wall and then hit the inside wall. So, nothing that the traction compound did to me. I don’t know if it had an affect on Chase (Elliott), but at least for me it didn’t.”

ANY REGRETS LAST WEEK ON THE CRASH WITH ALEX BOWMAN?
“Yeah, I had a really good car. I just wish I would have been more patient. Obviously, he threw the block on me, but that’s part of restarts there. I was just trying to stay to his inside so that he couldn’t get to the very bottom, but my angle was bad, I ran into the corner a little too far and hit the brakes harder. I just landed on the splitter, got tight and ran into him. Yeah, I mean I was just mad at myself after that because I gave up a lot of points.”

HOW HAS THE TEAM REACTION BEEN?
“I think we are all behind each other. Surprisingly, their attitudes seem fine towards me (laughs). I would be mad, but they seem OK.”

WHAT HAS BEEN THE RELATIONSHIP WITH KURT BUSCH THIS SEASON?
“It’s been good. He’s not as crazy as I thought he might be (laughs). He’s just a really good guy, I mean a lot more normal than I initially thought of him because I didn’t really know him that well. We’ve all heard the stories. He’s really smart and I can learn a lot off of him just listening to how he communicates with his team, how he treats people. I’ve liked working with him.”

IS THERE BEEN ANY SPECIFIC THINGS YOU CAN POINT TO THIS YEAR THAT KURT (BUSCH) HAS HELPED WITH FOR YOU AND THE ORGANIZATION TO GET BETTER?
“I just think everything he has helped with has. I think he has so much experience that he’s been able to bring to the team, knowing what areas to work on, and communicating with Matt McCall on things to make their car better. We can learn off of that as well. There isn’t just one thing, I think he’s helped a lot of areas.”

YOU’VE HAD SOME GOOD FINISHES AT WATKINS GLEN. ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT?
“Yeah, I like road course racing. I always qualify good at every road course we go to. I’ve gotten better at the racing side of things. We usually end up racing and finishing good at Watkins Glen, if we don’t run out of fuel or something like that. I enjoy it. I’m excited to get back there.”

BEFORE YOU CRASHED, DID YOU TEST THE PJ-1 COMPOUND AT ALL? HOW WILL IT AFFECT THE RACE?
“I have no idea, I only made 2 ½ laps.”

YOU ARE REALLY GOOD FRIENDS WITH A LOT OF GUYS YOU RACE WITH. HOW DO YOU BALANCE THAT LINE BETWEEN FRIENDS AND BEING COMPETITORS ON THE TRACK?
“Yeah, I mean I don’t know. I think it’s easier because there’s more give and take when you are around a close friend. Especially when you are having to borrow someone’s jet to get home with. You have to watch what you do then. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Denny Hamlin and I hang out a lot together, so I feel like we race each other the right way to avoid any issues, I guess. I think it’s easier to race your friends than it is to race someone you don’t really know.”

DOES IT GO THROUGH YOUR MIND IF YOU’RE RACING ONE OF THESE GUYS FOR A WIN OR A SPOT AT THE END OF THE RACE?
“No, I think that goes out the window. Stenhouse and I last year I think at Bristol, we were beating and banging with each other there at the end of the race battling for the win. I don’t think I’ve ever had to race Hamlin for a win or anything like that. We have job and we are out there to finish the best for our teams.”

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 (MENCS)
Pocono Raceway – July 27, 2019

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to the media in Pocono:

Kyle Busch, No. 18 Skittles Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Lot of speed in practice and lots of success at Pocono recently, what’s your mindset coming into this race?

“Mindset is to try to win and to put ourselves in a position to do that to try to get those extra five points that you can get and that trophy at the end of the day. Hopefully, we can achieve that success. We’ve got our Skittles colors with us this weekend. Those colors have always kind of boded well for us, so hopefully it continues a pattern.”

How important are restarts considering the style of racing today?

“There has been way more gamesmanship with restarts this year because it’s priority number one on trying to make passes. You have about three laps to make passes and get yourself in position essentially before everything single files out. When it starts to single file out, that’s kind of it. Like Loudon last week, it was kind of that way. There were a few guys that could pass and get up front. Dover’s definitely that way. Here at Pocono’s definitely that way. Once you get yourselves single file and strung out, the aero effects are just too great to overcome. Restarts are everything. There’s certain gamesmanship that’s being played on restarts. It’s been a lot more this year. Everybody’s understanding that, realizing that. I would agree that it’s about time NASCAR stepped in or all of us were going to continue to see all what we could get away with.”

NASCAR just told us that we will likely have two 350-mile races here next year with an inverted start for the second race (for the lead lap finishers). How do you feel about that?

“Yeah, sure, whatever. It doesn’t matter. The real important stuff is the details that probably haven’t been released yet on what all happens with practices. Do we practice both days or do we only practice once? Do we race the same car both days, all that sort of stuff. That’s the details that all of us, the teams, the owners, and everybody are more worried about than race lengths and how they determine starting lineups.”

They said you will practice and qualify on Friday and race the same car both Saturday and Sunday.

“That kind of answers some of our questions, because we were all wondering if we were going to have to bring two cars here. If we were going to have two separate events, type thing. That obviously will be nice for the owners and no big deal for us as long as we don’t tear up our stuff.

If we can make it through the first event and then buff on it a little bit, I don’t know how much they are going to let us do overnight, whether it’s impound or if they’ll just let us work on our cars and then go back through tech. It’s all good, whatever. Race lengths doesn’t matter. And invert, doesn’t matter. Obviously, qualifying up front is always important, but I would imagine they would just keep the same pit selections from your first qualifying. It’s not going to be that big of a deal.”

Can you have the same type of rivalries that you could 15 years ago?

“No, definitely not. Not the same. Not at all. What the differences are varies. There’s just too much, I wouldn’t say publicity, social media presence and too much people bad mouthing one person or another person. The voice is too loud. Years ago, you could have water cooler talk or garage talk or whatever you want to call it where people would go to work and talk NASCAR. Now you have people on their computers, on their cell phones, on whatever all day long talking about it or whatever with not just one, two, three people at their job site, but hundreds and thousands on their social media platform and the voice just gets louder and becomes more annoying. Got to mind your ps and qs a little bit more and kind of let it die quietly at the race track. When it picks up, because you run into someone else, and then it picks up again, it starts all over. You try to squash it, I guess.”

Has the traction compound made a difference in the practice sessions?

“It hasn’t quite yet. I have kind of moved into it in turn three a little bit. Just kind of working on something there and see if I can’t make that work. It’s pretty okay on entry to center, but then center off its not there. It’s really slick and dirty. It’s not very good yet because nobody is rubbering it in. Nobody’s up there grooming it, if you will. So, will it come in during the race? I think it will. Maybe 100 laps in it will get a little bit better hopefully, I say that, because I want it too. Turn two, I think is okay. Turn one, you’ll never get in it, it’s way too high.”

Toyota Racing – Matt DiBenedetto
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Pocono Raceway – July 27, 2019

Leavine Family Racing driver Matt DiBenedetto was made available to the media in Pocono:

Matt DiBenedetto, No. 95 Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota Camry, Leavine Family Racing

Do you look back and laugh on how you got yourself this ride?

“Yeah, I can. It’s just a crazy story that people would barely believe if they heard it. It’s funny. It’s just crazy for me to think back a matter of a few years ago. It seems like so long ago just because of how far that I have been able to come in such a short time by doing stuff like that, basically, bugging people, bugging people like Bob Leavine (team owner, Leavine Family Racing).”

What has been the benefit of having the partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing?

“It’s been good. We get really good race cars. I have a good relationship with the fellow Toyota drivers which helps and it’s so nice to be able to pick their brain and get advice from champions and such good drivers. The support from Toyota is really good, and we are lucky to have the people on our team that we have. Guys like Wheels (Mike Wheeler, crew chief) and our engineers that are so good, because we don’t get all the information, like Furniture Row (Racing) did. We are not quite at that level yet, but we have such good people that it just shows that we can still perform and go out there and get those top-fives and top-10s.”

What is the biggest thing that one of the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers has said to you thus far?
“I’d say there has been just consistent advice I can get from them that helps as far as making sure we execute as far as getting our car right for the race. I have always been a smart racer and have been able to get the most out of my equipment. I can go out there and hustle the car and wheel it. But getting some of the finer points, like from Martin (Truex Jr.) and Kyle (Busch) and some of them on making sure that I can maximize what I have for the weekend in the car. That’s a big part of it, and their experience has been nice to lean on when I can.”

This whole underdog theme with this team continues even with your shop, which was the late Alan Kulwicki’s shop.

“Yeah, it’s cool! They talk about that a lot. A lot of history in our race shop, right behind the Charlotte speedway. It’s cool being called an underdog, or a growing, team. We’re still in the growing stages. It’s so much fun to go out there. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was really satisfying when we go out and pass powerhouse teams and go up and run in the top-five like we have the last few weeks. When we pass former champions and beat powerhouse teams, it’s pretty satisfying.”

Can you talk about your practice session?
“It was good. Our car felt pretty good on the PJ1. It’s out there. You kind of arc the corner and you’re in it a little bit getting into the tunnel turn. I would be curious if it comes into play. I think on restarts it will maybe give you something to lean on if you have to go two-wide. As far as our car, I think it can qualify and race in the top-10. It had good speed. We have been having some pretty good cars here lately; it’s been fun.”

You had a 16th place finish here last time in Pocono, your best Pocono result yet. Does that give you more confidence heading into this race?

“The good thing is, we finished 16th here last time, and I feel like from going out in practice, immediately, our car is significantly better than the last race. I don’t see why we don’t have a good shot at getting another one of those top-10’s or maybe top-fives. A big part of the race is execution of the track position. If we can do that, I think we have a better car than ever.”

Do you embrace the underdog role?

“Yeah, I do. I think it’s just cool the progression I have had and the path I have had to go about it. I keep climbing the ladder. I’ve always been known as a guy that can make a lot out of a little. Now that I’m with a team of a higher caliber, it’s fun to be known as the guy that can go out there and run in the top-five. It has been a fun progression. The cool part of that role is how people have embraced my story and path to get here.”

As you have stronger runs, do you put more pressure on yourself?

“I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself. I’m always hard on myself as far as making sure I’m as perfect as I can be for my team. I am big on that. I have been through so much in my career. It has made me a really, really mentally tough person, so not a lot gets to me. I just go out, perform, do my job and the rest of it takes care of itself.”

Going back to these tracks for a second time, do the goals of the team change?

“Yes, for sure. I think now that we are in a nice rhythm, and we’re all working together really well. We’re clicking off good finishes. We would like to keep a lot more of these consistent top-15s, get some more top-10s, top-fives. Who knows. If we keep positioning ourselves, where we are up in the top-five at the end of these races, things can fall your way. We are in a position to have a shot at winning, and we can sneak our way into the playoffs. I mean, that’s a big goal. If we keep positioning ourselves and having these good runs and racing up towards the front and executing like we have been doing, I think the expectations will be high for the rest of the year. I have high expectations, because we are getting ourselves in a nice rhythm. We’ve had some nice race cars. We’ve gotten all the bugs worked out. The terrible luck the first part of year; we just had some stuff out of our control. That’s been nice.”

Do you put a number on where you want to end up in the points?

“I think the first half of the season kind of hosed us as far as my expectations. We had some DNFs. Getting crashed at the end of Daytona 500; Phoenix, running good and we had a battery die. Just little stuff, and you dig yourself a hole and it’s hard to get out of. I think the focus is really just doing what we are doing and focusing on track position and focusing on setting ourselves up for the end of these races. Because that’s our best shot is to keep positioning ourselves where we are in the top-five and is something happens and we can get a win, that gives a bigger point jump than anything else. We are 24th in points. We’re a much better team than that.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Saturday, July 27, 2019

EVENT: Gander RV 400 Media Availability

MATT TIFFT, No. 36 Surface Sunscreen Ford Mustang – HOW DO THE XFINITY AND CUP CARS DIFFER THEMSELVES FROM JUNE TO NOW? “I haven’t been in an XFINITY car since last year, so those cars tend to handle fairly differently than our cars do now just because of the high downforce package, so our corner speeds are a lot higher than what the XFINITY cars are, but I’m kind of interested to see this weekend because they applied the PJ1 here this weekend, so I’m hoping for our race that’s gonna allow for some more passing. Passing was definitely difficult in June, so I’m hoping that’s gonna open up some opportunities for us to get in some different lanes and try out some different stuff. We haven’t completely seen it yet because nobody has really been in it, but come Sunday and the Truck race I hope that’s a different story.”

AS THE RACE GOES ON DO YOU THINK IT WILL WORK IN? “I definitely think you’ll see somebody try, especially on restarts we’ll fan out so much that we’ll get in there, and it seems like the more people that run in it, the more the application starts to get more and more grippy as heat gets in it. So it’s hard to get in it right now. I didn’t feel much of a difference, but once the rubber gets laid down in it, that’s when it starts to actually make a decent difference for us to go up and try it.”

ARE YOU LIFTING MORE NOW THAN IN JUNE? “Yeah, I thought that was interesting too. I figured we would be more in the throttle because of that stuff being here, but I think what’s happened is our speeds are a little bit higher than they were in June as far a lap time, at least for our group, and our corner speed being able to get back to throttle – whether that’s our cars being better or the track being a little bit more grippy, it’s a lot of securing more speed into the corner, so I think that’s making us have to roll out of the gas a little bit more when it gets to the other end.”

DOES THE HEAT OUTSIDE PLAY A FACTOR? “I think it is. It seems like guys are fighting for grip. Obviously, there have been a couple of crashes already, so I think the track is not as forgiving as it seemed like it was here in June, being overcast and cloudy and stuff, but it definitely has a lot of speed in it. I think that’s an interesting mix between the two and obviously the teams, this is one of the first times we’ve come back to a track for a second time, so this is really a first to see how a team has progressed from the first time around here, but Pocono is always kind of a different deal in itself because of the unique shape of the track.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE PJ1 IN GENERAL? “I think at times, if it provides for a better show and better passing opportunities, I think that’s great. The problem is right now it’s kind of in a weird spot, where it’s a little bit too high for us to run in, so I wish it was a little bit closer to what the racing groove would be, so we could just move up a little bit and start really getting into it. It’s kind of in an awkward place to be able to directly commit into it, so I think it’s gonna take awhile for some restarts in the Truck race for it to start to come in, so we’ll all be watching that. The idea is to make it a more exciting show for the fans and provide more passing opportunities for us, which I’m definitely for.”

HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY TIRE FALL OFF OR TIRE WEAR WITH THIS PACKAGE? “No, not really. This race kind of lends itself to being more on the strategy side of who stays out, who puts on two tires and tries to play the track position game. We saw that was big here in the spring, but there’s not much tire fall off. The tires are fairly hard, so it’s not like you’re having a Chicago-type of deal, where you’re wanting four tires all the time. I’m sure with the heat on Sunday you’re gonna want tires throughout different points, but I don’t think it’s crucial to always have four. I think you’ll see a lot of guys take two tires.”

YOU HAD A CREW CHANGE THIS WEEK WITH THE 38. YOUR THOUGHTS. “I think, overall, as a whole at Front Row I feel like each team has had moments of really good runs in there and if you look at the 34 I feel like lately they’ve been the best group, so the idea kind of internally from the team and from Front Row was, ‘hey, we’ve got people we feel like here are really great pieces and we’ve had some good runs and maybe let’s try to see for the rest of the season if these are good chemistry fits to help out everybody.’ So far I feel like it’s been positive. It’s always a little bit different coming into a weekend working with a brand new group in there even though it’s under the Front Row banner, so at least we’re familiar with the cars and things, but learning that dialogue was kind of the first goal of first practice here. I feel like we’ve gotten that in and hopefully here in final practice we can really tune to where we need to be and get going where we need to be tomorrow. I think the whole idea is to try to keep on getting better throughout the rest of the season and hopefully that provides an opportunity to do that.”

EVEN THOUGH THIS IS THE SECOND TIME HERE IT’S YOUR FIRST WITH THIS CREW, SO HOW DIFFERENT IS IT? “I think right off the truck we had better speed and were at least closer than we were here in the spring. We were positioned fairly well in the spring to probably get a top 20 finish out of it and had a transmission failure on a restart, so I think we looked at this race as being one of those that we probably didn’t execute as a team because of a failure in there, but unloading so far I feel like we’ve been closer on speed. We’re not where we need to be yet, but I feel like we’re getting turn three dialed in and we’re getting pretty close to where we need to be.”

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING DURING PRACTICE WITH TWO CARS HITTING THE WALL PRETTY HARD? “It was definitely hairy the first couple of runs because it feels like we’re going faster. I don’t know if it’s because it’s slicker or whatever it is out there, but it seems like the cars had a tougher time getting through the bumps. You’re definitely trying to push everything you can because if you’re too conservative in practice it’s hard to go get that extra little bit in the race, so we’re trying to push those things. This is a track we’re coming back to for the second time, which is really the first one we have for the season, so everybody has a different idea of what they learned from the first time here and they’re trying to execute those things in practice. People say, ‘hey, maybe I can get a little bit more throttle here,’ and you start to get a little greedy sometimes, so it’s definitely a balance.”

AS A YOUNG DRIVER WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THOSE WRECKS? “I think you’ve just got to look at what happened there. You saw the 42 get pretty upset over the bumps. You’ve got to make sure, ‘Ok, is my car getting upset through there?’ I spun in a very similar spot here back in June, so you’ve got to do a good job of, ‘Ok, is my car getting through here in the right way? Can I pull down and make a move on a restart?’ You’ve got to look at all those situations, so as a young guy you’ve kind of got to say, ‘Ok, am I in a good spot or am I already on the verge of losing it to where this might be bad in the race?’ You’ve just got to think about that.”

WAS THAT A LESSON LEARNED WHEN YOU SPUN LAST TIME? “Possibly. I felt like that was a little different in scenario because we were three-wide on a restart and I was trying to be aggressive, so it was a little bit different spot because we were trying to gain spots on a restart, rather than just a single-car run in practice. But the same theory applies. You’ve got to get through the bumps either way.”

WHAT ABOUT THE RACE? “It’s gonna be interesting to see. I’m curious to watch the Truck race today because the PJ1 has been talked about so much, but nobody has really run in it that much yet. I want to see what will happen, if the guys on restarts will start fanning out to use that PJ1. In June it was hard to pass, so I’m hoping that provides some more passing opportunities, otherwise, strategy and track position is gonna be big again. It’s always gonna be here, but I’m hoping we can get that other lane to get a little bit more side-by-side racing. That would be great.”

YOU HAD A CREW CHANGE THIS WEEK. “We did. We’re trying to look internally at Front Row of how we can get better. We felt like we had some great runs on the 38 and the 36 teams, but felt like we wanted to do whatever we could internally to try to improve chemistry and build on what we could do the rest of this 2019 season. We felt like that the pieces we had were strong pieces and tried to see if this was a better fit for me over with Seth, so it’s been great so far. Obviously, first practice here is just kind of learning the group, but the whole concept is to try to make the team as a whole better and improve our point standing and our finishes more consistently.”

WAS IT THE WHOLE TEAM THAT CHANGED? “Yeah. It was interesting because I was walking into the hauler and it still says the 38 hauler on it. They wanted to stay with their equipment and stuff, so even just that part of it and making sure I don’t walk into the wrong hauler was checkbox one for the weekend. I’m sure I’ll have to keep looking at that, but even just the little things. Our digital dashes. Certain teams do things differently, so we’re trying to figure out if I could adapt and use their digital dash for our pit road speeds. I would have gotten caught speeding three times in our run we did, so you’ve just got to change it to what’s more comfortable for me and what works for the team, too. So we kind of met in middle ground and ran it again and everything felt good in there, so it’s the little things you don’t really think about that can get yourself in trouble, so you want to make sure you check those boxes during a practice.”

IT COULD MAKE THINGS BETTER OR THROW THINGS OFF AS WELL, RIGHT? “Yeah, but I think the ultimate goal is you go through the weekend and you have a smooth weekend and try to execute everything as well as you can and the goal is to try and build on things to get better week to week, and I think you have to start with those wildcard things – take care of those first and then things kind of go in a more smooth process, just like they would at the beginning of the season once you get through a few weeks.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
POCONO RACEWAY
GANDER RV 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JULY 27, 2019

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

INAUDIBLE
“I think the tires got really hard. Obviously, the tracks have changed a little bit with the PJ-1. It seems like the last couple of weeks, people have been crashing in practice. We just unloaded really loose and a little poorly, but hopefully we’ll gain on it and get better throughout the day.”

IT SEEMED LIKE YOU WERE LIFTING A LITTLE MORE THAN YOU DID IN THE SPRING RACE. WHAT IS THE REASON BEHIND THAT?
“I don’t think anyone was wide open in June, except through the tunnel. For us, we are just freer. I think the cars are a little faster this time around. The 24 is really fast right now; he was still wide open in the tunnel. I don’t really think anything has changed. Nobody is running in the PJ-1, that stuff is just going to get slimey all weekend. I don’t know, it definitely seems like there is less grip, but the cars are going faster.”

THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF WRECKS IN PRACTICE LAST WEEK AND THIS WEEKEND. DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND?
“That’s part of racing, we drive cars for a living and you’re going to crash them. Obviously, last weekend’s practice wasn’t much fun, but hopefully we have a cleaner second practice here today and make it through qualifying just fine. I’m just a little bummed on how we unloaded, but we’ll just try to get the car faster.”

INAUDIBLE
“We’ve definitely been working really hard at trying different things. We tried something pretty big here and it gave us what we wanted. We wanted our car to turn better, but now we are super loose. We are definitely trying things, but it’s definitely a relief to have a win. It’s something nobody can take away from us.”

ARE YOU GUYS TRYING THINGS THIS WEEKEND OR IN GENERAL? LOOKING AT THE PLAYOFFS, WHERE IS THE TEAM AT RIGHT NOW?
“Yeah, I begged for turning off Turn 3 here, which is always a magic key to speed here I feel like. I got it, but I think I have too much of it. We just unloaded way too free here and we’ve had to back off of everything we were trying. If we can get it to work, we will be really good.”

HAVE YOU GUYS STARTED TO LOOK AT THE PLAYOFFS?
“Yeah, for sure. Obviously, Greg (Ives) is really good at that stuff and is super detail-oriented. I think the Playoffs suit us really well. Vegas will be a really good start for us.”

WE HAD A COUPLE OF CARS CRASH IN PRACTICE. OBVIOUSLY, THEY ARE TRYING TO FIND THE EDGE. HOW ON THE EDGE IS IT? HOW DO YOU LOOK AT IT?
“Yeah, knock on wood we haven’t crashed yet. I can’t really say I didn’t crash after last weekend. It’s definitely edgier than you would think, just with how fast the cars are. You have to run wide open through the tunnel to be fast. You look at how fast the 24 is and most of his speed is just through the Tunnel Turn. It’s just really tricky to get that right, there’s no room for error. When they put the PJ-1 on the racetrack and nobody goes and runs on it, it’s just a layer of slim. If you get out of the groove, you get into the slim. You just don’t have the opportunity to get the car up to the wall.”

SO YOU HAVE TO PUSH IT AND IF YOU PUSH IT, YOU RISK IT. NOW YOU HAVE TO THINK BACK TO LAST WEEK. IT’S REALLY KIND OF A MENTAL THING.
“Yeah, for sure. I don’t know, that’s the part of driving race cars. If you push hard enough, you’re going to wreck stuff. That’s just part of our job.”

DID YOU HAVE TO BE MORE CAREFUL THIS WEEK THEN?
“I don’t think I tried to be more careful. I think you are still just trying to find speed and do the best job you can. We unloaded really aggressively loose and obviously weren’t very good, so it was a handful to begin with. So, I had to be careful because of that.”

YOU MENTIONED THE PJ-1 IS SLIMEY OUT THERE. DO YOU THINK THAT IS GOING TO DECREASE THE QUALITY OF THE RACING OVERALL?
“I think that if it gets run in, it’s going to be great. It’s just the matter of it getting run in and heated up. That stuff reacts just quirky. I mean you look at Bristol when it’s on the bottom and for five laps after a restart, you can’t run the bottom at all. For the next 100 laps, you have to run the bottom. So, it’s so tricky when it comes in and what to do to get around it. It’s definitely tough.”

HOW QUICKLY DID YOU PUT LAST WEEKEND OUT OF MIND?
“I mean it’s definitely still in my head, it’s frustrating. When you see everyone on Twitter say you wrecked two race cars, I really only wrecked one because the drive shaft failed in the other one. That’s part of what we do for a living. I was just more frustrated with myself that I made that mistake and caused that much work for my team. I hate doing that and I was pretty embarrassed honestly.”

WHAT IS THE MOJO AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS RIGHT NOW?
“I almost think what we went through last Saturday was almost a team thing. Between all of us and everyone being all hands-on deck trying to help out and do the best job they could to get the second backup car ready. That took a lot from everybody and everyone was willing to help, people from other teams were willing to help. I think it meant a lot to the guys to see how well everyone worked together. There was no bickering, no arguing, no fighting. Everybody just put their heads down and worked, which when you get in stressful situations like that, tempers can flare. We really didn’t, so it was good team building.”

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

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