Category: NASCAR Cup PR

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Camping World 400 MENCS Post Race Quotes

FORD FINISHING RESULTS
3rd – Joey Logano
5th – Brad Keselowski
6th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
14th – Kevin Harvick
16th – Aric Almirola
17th – Ryan Newman
20th – Michael McDowell
21st – Paul Menard
23rd – David Ragan
24th – Daniel Suarez
29th – Matt Tifft
30th – Corey LaJoie
37th – Clint Bowyer

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — Finished 3rd

“It looked like after we had that last green flag cycle things were looking pretty good. We ran down the 42 and I thought if we could get by him we were catching the 88, together, both of us were. I just couldn’t get to his inside or outside and get a run. I would get right to him but not enough of a run to make a move. I just got tight at the end and he drove away at the end. We were pushing really hard on the front tires and eventually they are going to give out. Congrats to Alex, that is his first win and there is nothing like that. That is cool for that team but I don’t really care a whole lot about that. It is all about our car and we come home with a third out of the day, so we will take it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 MIller Lite Ford Mustang — Finished 5th

“That was a struggle all day. We couldn’t get a handle on it. We got our best at the end which is certainly what matters. A decent day. We will take it and learn from it and move on.”

WHAT WERE YOU MISSING? “Somewhere in the balance of speed and handling 1+1 didn’t equal 3. I am a little frustrated. I was hoping to be a little better than we were today.”

HOW DID YOU WORK YOUR WAY INTO THE TOP-FIVE AT THE END? “We dug really hard at the end. We had a good run at the end and made a lot of passes and made a lot of ground with some good strategy on pit road and good execution. It wasn’t quite enough speed to run with them. We had some real good glimpses of having what it takes but they were just glimpses, it wasn’t long enough.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 BodyArmor Ford Mustang — Finished 6th

“Myself and two other cars blew tires at the same time early in the race and that stunk. We were running second and put a splash of gas in it to end the first stage. There were five or six guys doing that and the right rear started peeling apart and that pretty much ruined our day. We went a lap down and had to play catch-up all day. I think we gained seven seconds on the leader there during the last run, so today, the fastest car didn’t win the race.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY
CAMPING WORLD 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 29, 2019

AUSTIN DILLON PUTS CAMARO Z1 ON THE POLE AT CHICAGOLAND

JOLIET, IL (June 29, 2019) – Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Dow Univar Solutions Camaro ZL1 secured the top position in qualifying for the Camping World 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Chicagoland Speedway, with a fast lap of 30.636 seconds, 176.263 mph. It was the third consecutive pole of the season for Dillon, his first at the 1.5mile track, and sixth of his MENCS career.

Dillon’s feat also marks the tenth pole of the 2019 season for the Camaro ZL1, the 8th pole for Chevrolet at Chicagoland, and 709th pole for Team Chevy in NASCAR’s premier series.

Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, Daniel Hemric, qualified third in his Liberty National Camaro ZL1. Seven-time MENCS champion, Jimmie Johnson, was fourth in his No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 and Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1, qualified fifth to give Team Chevy four in the top five starting order.

Rounding out the top five qualifiers was Kevin Harvick (Ford).

NBCSN will telecast the Camping World 400 live at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, June 30. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW UNIVAR SOLUTIONS CAMARO ZL1 PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT:

IS THIS ABOUT WHAT YOU EXPECTED FOR TODAY?
“Yeah, you don’t usually see a guy that was 21st and 25th in both practice sessions jump up to the pole but I actually felt really confident in our car in the second practice. We just, when we put on our stickers we had our car too low. We were hitting the track. So our speed wasn’t there because of that. You can’t see that. I felt confident that our car was good and driving good. We just needed to get off the track and we did and we went really fast. It was a good lap. I looked at SMT and I kind of beat everybody off Turn 2 and it carried down the backstretch. That was a good part of the corner for us.”

DANIEL HEMRIC IS STARTING THIRD. WITH CHICAGOLAND HAVING GUYS JUMP DOWN TO THE APRON, HOW IMPORTANT WILL IT BE HAVING HIM THERE?
“Yeah, it will be good having a teammate there. Hopefully we can work good together. We actually played some doubles ping-pong this week and I feel like our teammate bond got even closer than what it was because we kicked some tail in double ping-pong. If anybody wants a shot at him, Rick and I in some ping-pong, come get it.”

WHO DID YOU PLAY AGAINST?
“We played against Brett Moffitt and Austin Payton which is Denny’s (Hamlin) manager. You can ask Moffitt next time you see him. It wasn’t much of a match.”

THIS YEAR, BEING THE POLE SITTER HASN’T MEANT BEING GREAT IN THE RACE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW YOU WILL BE TOMORROW?
“I was sitting in the trailer talking to Danny and we feel pretty confident. We were 11th on average. Long run speed is what we were good at. We didn’t think we had that kind of a lap in it. We didn’t know what we were going to qualify at. We were 24th and 21st in practice on speed. I think we made really good adjustments. That is kind of relative because Harvick has qualified on pole a couple places and led a lot of laps. He didn’t get the win but he has been the fastest car. Kansas I think. There have been some places the pole guy has had a shot to win. I know history wise the pole sitter has never won here, that is what they were saying. I have a fast car either way. I am happy. We will make the right adjustments tomorrow and put ourselves in a good position. We have a great pit stall. I didn’t feel like we were out to lunch if you are asking that question. We had good long run speed and pretty good grip.”
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
CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY
CAMPING WORLD 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 29, 2019

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Austin Dillon, No. 3 DOW Univar Solutions Camaro ZL1
3rd Daniel Hemric, No. 8 Liberty National Camaro ZL1
4th Jimmie Johnson, No. 38 Ally Camaro ZL1
5th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Global Poker Camaro ZL1
8th Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Austin Dillon (Chevrolet)
2nd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3rd Daniel Hemric (Chevrolet)
4th Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet)
5th Kurt Busch (Chevrolet)

NBCSN will telecast the Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway live at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, June 30. Live coverage can also be found on NBCSN Sports Gold, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:

DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 LIBERTY NATIONAL CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 3rd
“Everybody is obviously running wide open. It’s trying to get your car where you can physically steer the car around the white line, but you’re steering the car and you’re obviously scrubbing speed. You’re trying to fight both edges of that double-edged sword. Our Liberty National ZL1 kind of steered itself rather really nice. I think every driver in the field feels that way, enjoying running on the older surfaces. We all enjoy coming to these places where you can try to find little advantages throughout the weekend, practices and qualifying to try to dial in your car to have some versatility to it. If you can do that and maintain grip, it gives you more opportunities to move. I’m a big fan of this place and a big fan of all of the tracks like this. I’m excited about our speed there in our Camaro ZL1 and hopefully it’s a sign of what’s to come in the race.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 4th
“We ended up somewhere around fourth in first practice. In second practice, I was really happy with the car and stayed on track to make a long run. It felt sporty on five, ten, fifteen, twenty lap averages. I think we have a shot to be able to run a competitive race tomorrow. I feel good about it.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 8th
THOUGHTS ON HIS RUN:
“I don’t know why we slowed down like we did. We went a little over a tenth faster than that in practice, so I’m pretty bummed about that. I thought we would be a little better than that. I thought we would go faster when the race track cooled down, but I don’t know. It is what it is. We’ll start wherever that ends up putting us. It was easily wide open, nothing too spectacular. We were good, just a little off. Track position is going to be important, which is why I’m a little disappointed in where we qualified. I think we’ll have a couple of laps to get passing done on fresh tires and then it’s going to be really hard to make it happen. My pit crew is probably the best on pit road, so that’s good. We had a really good race car; it’s just clean air is key here. Hopefully we’ll get some of that.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 11th
HOW DID YOU FEEL GOING INTO TOMORROW’S RACE?
“It was good. The guys have done a good job today and worked really hard to change it out. I think we will be in good shape tomorrow. I think with this package, it will be a lot quicker to get through the field. I don’t think track position will be a huge deal starting in the back. I look forward to it.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 MAXWELL HOUSE – USO CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 28th
HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE IN TOMORROW’S RACE?
“It was it has been for us this year. We didn’t have a lot of speed in qualifying, but our Maxwell House – USO Camaro should be pretty good for the race. It has something that has been our strong suit and we have some drivability in it. We are hoping that it’s the same thing we have going on for tomorrow.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

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

Toyota Racing Post-Qualifying Report
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Chicagoland Speedway – June 29, 2019

TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, Austin Dillon*
2nd, Kevin Harvick*
3rd, Daniel Hemric*
4th, Jimmie Johnson*
5th, Kurt Busch*
9th, DENNY HAMLIN
17th, KYLE BUSCH
18th, MARTIN TRUEX JR
21st, ERIK JONES
30th, MATT DIBENEDETTO
*non-Toyota driver

NOTE: Qualifying positions are tentative based on Sunday morning technical inspection.

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

Qualifying Position: 9th

What are your expectations for tomorrow’s race?

“We’re pretty happy with the car. Overall, we’re pretty happy with it and we’ll race from where we qualify, but certainly happy with how we practiced today and the adjustments we made.”

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

Qualifying Position: 18th

How is the race car for tomorrow?

“I really don’t know to be honest. We had a weird practice where we were on one side of the fence and kept working on it. We didn’t really get to where we wanted to go and then all of the sudden we made one change and it went to the other side. It was kind of a weird day, hard to explain so not sure what we have. It seemed like the laps we did have that were decent, we had decent speed. We just have to get the balance right for tomorrow and I think we’ll be okay in the long run.”

Do you expect the high groove or low groove to be more competitive tomorrow?

“Little bit of everything. I think wherever the guy in front of you is not. Pick your spots like we’ve been trying to figure out with this package. I feel like the best car will probably win the race on the bottom. To get there is going to take a lot of different lanes. We’ll just have to see how it all plays out.”

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

Qualifying Position: 21st

How does your car feel for tomorrow’s race?

“It was good. Overall, qualifying at the mile-and-a-halves now is kind of dry. It felt good, drove good. We kind of ended up qualifying where we thought we would in practice. We struggled with it a little bit. I think our DeWalt Camry ended up being pretty close and just a couple adjustments away. We came a long way in a short time. It was a positive and I think we’ll race good tomorrow in the heat.”

Do you expect the high line or the low line to be more competitive tomorrow?

“I don’t know, it’s tough to say. With this package, it’s hard to get a feel for it in practice. I think you’ll see some guys up there and I think you’ll see the dominant guys probably being on the bottom and making their cars work down there.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Camping World 40 Cup Series Qualifying Results/Quotes

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
2nd – Kevin Harvick
6th – Clint Bowyer
7th – Michael McDowell
10th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Brad Keselowski
15th – Aric Almirola
16th – Ryan Newman
19th – Joey Logano
22nd – Matt Tifft
24th – David Ragan
25th – Paul Menard
26th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
29th – Daniel Suarez
31st – Corey LaJoie

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang — Qualified 2nd

“I feel good about our car. We had two good practices today and this is the same car we had at Kansas and ran really well there, we just had some bum luck at the end of the race with that tear-off getting on the front of the car and having to pit. This is an interesting race track because you can run from the bottom to the top and our car was very versatile. It goes through the bumps well. I felt good about it today, it just has to transfer to tomorrow.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang — Qualified 7th

“It was a good lap. We have been good all weekend really. It is a fast day with back-to-back practices and qualifying and the impound procedure you never quite know where you will stack up. I feel like we were competitive in race trim and that was probably a little quicker than we thought we would be in Q trim. Hopefully that is a good sign for things tomorrow. I am really proud of everyone at Front Row. This is the same car we had at the All-Star race and we felt really good about our speed there. I feel like that is a good direction for us. It is a good spot. We have a strong Ford Mustang and that always helps to have Roush Yates power. That really helps in this qualifying format. Now we just have to go have a good race.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 BodyArmor Ford Mustang — Qualified 10th

“You just hope your car drives smooth, especially with this qualifying format with it being a two-day show. I feel like you are set with your stuff tomorrow with what you have today. It isn’t like you can go trim your car out for qualifying and then go put grip in it. We focus more toward the race, we always seem to. At the mile-and-a-half’s it has benefitted us more than it has hurt us, which I have always been a fan of. I felt I drove pretty decent. Got a little loose over the tunnel in three and four. Overall, not bad. We will try to get it rolling tomorrow.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY
CAMPING WORLD 400
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 29, 2019

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW UNIVAR SOLUTIONS CAMARO ZL1 – Pole Winner:
THE WAY THE DAY STARTED, DID YOU EVEN THINK THE POLE WAS A POSSIBILITY?
“Well, I felt like if we kept working on it; we had a good meeting between the No. 8 (Daniel Hemric) between first and second practice and kind of had a good idea of what we wanted to make changes on. We were able to make them and the car was fast. So, I’m really proud of these guys. This is our third pole this year. We just need to translate it to the race. We’ve had some really bad weeks. Four bad weeks of getting wrecked and random stuff happening. We need a good run and this is a great way to start it. I know no pole sitter has won this race, that’s bad. But, hopefully we can change that this weekend.”

WHAT’S THE BALANCE OF WANTING SPEED BUT ALSO HAVING TO HAVE DRIVABILITY IN THE RACE?
“Truthfully, from what (Danny) Stockman (crew chief) is saying, we’re not trimmed out. So, I feel good about it. I feel like we have a car that’s drivable. It ran good. We were 11th on average, so I could stay on the throttle quite a bit. I think we just made some good adjustments and got all out of our car that we could.”

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
CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY
CAMPING WORLD 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 29, 2019

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

HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE RACE THIS WEEKEND?
“I don’t know yet. I think that the track surface is one of the most worn that we’ve been on. It seems rougher than anything we’ve been on yet. Usually here, Charlotte and Kentucky were some of the roughest places, but I’d say this is close to number one now. I think it’s going to be a good race. It seemed like it was a little tough to pass in the heat of the day. I think that the racing groove is wide enough here to have a good race.”

A FEW WEEKS AGO, YOU TALKED ABOUT A FEW THINGS THAT THE SPORT COULD DO TO IMPROVE. WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK ARE YOU STARTING TO GET?
“I haven’t gotten the ‘come work for us’ response yet, but maybe one day. NASCAR has definitely reached out since some of my comments and they seem somewhat interested. I haven’t heard anything from them recently, but before we went to Sonoma, we talked about some things and it led to us running a live 360 cam inside the car to try to get some of these things in motion. I think there are a lot of things that they just need to stay openminded and honest about in regards to where we are at as a sport and focus on what we can do to keep it rolling. I know it takes a lot of people pulling in the same direction, but there are some clear obvious things that we can do that I feel like we can enhance our sport to take it to the next level. Sometimes it just needs to be said to get the ball rolling.”

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE 360 CAM YOU RAN?
“That was something that came from my comments at Pocono. NASCAR reached out and wanted to put in a 360 camera inside of the car. We spoke the week before on ways to market that and talk about it with NASCAR. I think the idea was cool, I just don’t think we got it pushed hard enough. Obviously there were a lot of people that didn’t know about it. They left it up to me to promote it from my social, which I didn’t think was the best idea. I appreciate the honor of it, but we need to do a bigger and better job of promoting things like that so we have some fan interest to back some of these ideas. We had a great idea and we executed it, but we didn’t let enough people know about it from our platforms. The idea was to have the 360 cam throughout the race and people could send in questions from stage, to stage, to the end of the race. Then, the next Tuesday I was going to answer live on NASCAR’s Instagram page. I think the idea was great, the execution was not as solid that we wanted it to be. We need more out of everyone involved if we are going to push these things.”

WHAT OTHER IDEAS DO YOU HAVE?
“I just think the basis of that idea was to have live-streaming cameras in every single racecar. We can afford that in this sport and whoever wants to do it can do it. That way, we can maybe live stream from each driver’s personal account, team’s account or it can vary week to week. This is to drive fan engagement to certain sponsors, teams and add value that way. Drivers, owners, race teams, TV providers all have to understand the importance that we have to open our minds to the fact that between stages is just as important to the future of the sport to communicate to our fans as it is to get in the right call of information. Yes, you have to get the right information into our Crew Chief first, but we can maybe take an extra pace lap under caution for a social lap. Maybe that is something NASCAR can take a look at. Maybe have a PR Representative, a third person on the pit box, or a second radio that only they can contact you on to answer questions from fans really quick. The driver could then interact with our fans live during the race. They are looking at you and seeing live interaction. There is no other sport that can provide that. We have every means and it’s sitting right here for us to take a big step. There are a lot of other things I have ideas on in regards to making at-track experiences better. Maybe starting to do away with just sitting in the stands for five hours aspect of the race and making it more mobile for the younger generations that want to be entertained at multiple levels. I think we have to grow our mind, add more entertainment factors, even if it doesn’t correlate with racing to get people there. Once people get to our sport, all it takes is watching one lap and finding a driver that did something cool. It’s that interaction that will make them turn on the TV and watch that driver. Then they might buy their gear. Then they are definitely coming back, whether they are coming back for the race or the thing that got them there in the first place in the entertainment level. There’s so much more that we can do.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE EFFECT OF THE NUMBER OF CAUTIONS, OR LACK THERE OF, THIS SEASON?
“I think this package has done one of two things: restarts are amazing, they are great to watch. When we have those, we have some of the best races NASCAR has seen. On the other hand, we are having less cautions, so maybe we need to have talks of having a fourth stage implemented. Maybe every week, we have a caution with fifteen to go and maybe it pays extra points to win the third stage or something like that. Look at something as far as adding a fourth stage where you know there is going to be a fifteen-lap shootout. We can look at different things so that you aren’t feeling like the guy who had a car that was dominate all day, but lose points due to an extra stage. Maybe boost the third stage’s points and minimize the points in the fourth stage, or just add bonus points in the fourth stage. There is something there that we can do to make sure that every single week we have that crazy action.”
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)
Chicagoland Speedway – June 29, 2019

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

Kyle Busch, No. 18 Skittles Red, White & Blue Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Question about your teammate Erik Jones. He is kind of in this limbo if he is going to return to Joe Gibbs Racing. Have you had any conversations with him or given him any advice on how to handle it?

“I have not had any conversations with Erik. I’m not privy to all the details with all that is going on. Obviously being through Kyle Busch Motorsports and the Xfinity Series; he could have or should have won the championship that year. Since being in the Cup car, he’s had good runs, but he has had a lot of bad luck. He has had bad luck take him out of good runs. It’s kind of frustrating I know. He is a Cup Series winner, which is cool, but we are a performance-based business and you have to perform. So however that happens, however that is, you have to make that happen.”

It is the first time in years that another driver at Joe Gibbs Racing has four wins other than you. What is like for you to have someone at Joe Gibbs Racing that is driving you that way?

“It has been good. We have had the relationship with Martin (Truex Jr.) for a long time. Even with years back, with him being at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) and being a part of the Toyota family. Then he moved out of that role to Furniture Row; they came back to Toyota and that is when he got teamed up with Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and they have been on a hot run ever since. Cole is a smart individual. He does a great job. He has good people around him, and Martin is a good driver. I have gone up against him in our Xfinity days, back in our rookie seasons, so I know what he is like and good he is. It’s nice to have him under our roof and in the same equipment and to be able to communicate with them and to be able to share with them. There are race tracks that he is really, really good at and shines at and does well, and there are race tracks that I am good at or better at that we can go back-and-forth on. It could be any one of us each week. We have all the tools necessary at Joe Gibbs Racing thanks to Joe (Gibbs, owner), and everybody that has built this place and gives us everything that we need.

Do you see it as a friendly rivalry with Martin (Truex Jr.)?

“I would say that it’s a friendly rivalry. The way we go about it, we put everything out on the table. We have crashed each other a few times, and we have been pissed at each other a few times, but a couple weeks later we are back to business and we are joking around in meetings and we are working with one another and stuff like that. You are going to have those situations that happen just because of how close we are running. We try to give each other the space you need and the respect that each of us deserve. Sometimes we run into one another, but that happens. But it has been good overall.”

How do you think you and Martin (Truex Jr.) are alike and how are you different?

“I would say we are nothing alike and he would agree with me on that so that he is not in my wheelhouse whatsoever. He’s more laid-back and more reserved. He comes across way different than I do. I am a bit more outspoken and brash. I think that is where we can complement each other. There are times in meetings that I just want to come out and blurt out something and I kind of just hold it in and I let Martin say it and he says in a better way than I ever could have thought it. He kind of gets my point across or vice versa. If I feel like he doesn’t say it hard enough, then I will get in. That’s the same with Denny (Hamlin). (Erik) Jones is a little more reserved, a little more inexperienced, but he has been speaking up a lot lately. So, it’s a good mix of what we have as a team.”

When you look back on the finish here, what do you remember? With the new rules package is there potential for a finish like that again?

“I think what stands out most to me about last year’s finish is about every detail. I remember I had a good lead and I was kind of just biding my time and there was a lot of traffic that I had to pick my way though. My brother (Kurt Busch) was in it, (Ryan) Newman was in it, (Ricky) Stenhouse Jr. was in it. I kind of got bottled up a couple times. I think I picked the wrong groove a couple times and gave (Kyle) Larson a good opportunity to close the gap on me and catch up. Then, we had the last lap. Getting into turn one, I knew I needed to take the top and take Larson’s line away from him because that is where he was running, make him do something different. He went to the bottom, and I thought he was going to try to try a slide-job. He just didn’t. He knew he couldn’t complete it and have the momentum off the corner to stay side-by-side. He got into my quarter-panel and put me in the wall. After that, it was gloves off. It was on after that. Iconic finish, dynamic finish that will be known and recognized for a long time. Typically, you don’t see those at mile-and-a-halves. It was nice to have something like that happen especially to kick off NBC and (Dale Earnhardt) Junior being there. That was really fun. You just never know if you can see finishes like those. It’s shame that we don’t have finishes like that each and every week. We would have people waiting in line for grandstand tickets if we did. It comes along ever so often. Hopefully we can continue to put good races like that on though.”

Can you talk about your level of success this year? And how it compares to previous years?

“This year has been pretty good overall, but certainly I think we have underachieved on a few fronts. There has been some races that we have thrown away that we should’ve, could’ve won. I can count three right now: Vegas, Texas, possibly Martinsville, Daytona. It has been a good year. We had that stretch of top-10 runs and felt pretty good to start the season strong. But as I said, winning is everything in this sport. Getting out there and being able to score the trophies is where it’s at. Thankful to have the four wins that we do, but it would be pretty crazy to have seven or eight.”

Are three trucks in the top six and improvement?
“I knew someone was going to ask me this question. Yes, and no. Yes, certainly it was an improvement. It’s good. For as bad as the race started off for Todd (Gilliland) and the 4 team, it wasn’t looking very good early but they rallied and they had good long run speed. If I’m being brutally honest, there was probably four trucks that fell out of the race that probably would have run inside the top ten that probably would have pushed Harrison (Burton) back a spot, and Todd maybe three spots. It’s all relative. Seeing improvement and getting better is where it is at. They are working really hard to be able to do that. I know that Todd is working hard. I know these guys aren’t taking it for granted. It’s just a bit frustrating to not see the wins come to fruition when I remember back to 2014, myself, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace, we all won 14 of the 24 races. I know the potential is there; it’s just trying to get us there.

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY
CAMPING WORLD 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 29, 2019

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 met with media to discuss the 2020 date change for Daytona, his thoughts on Bristol and past events at Chicagoland, how the new package will perform in Sunday’s race, and more. Full Transcript:

ON THE 2020 NASCAR MENCS SCHEDULE CHANGE FOR DAYTONA FROM JULY TO AUGUST
“It’s always nice to go to the beach in the summer time and around the 4th of July has been special. So, it’s always been one of my favorite weeks to go to as a kid and watch, or since I’ve been driving to be there racing. So, I’ve always enjoyed that. I’m really looking forward to next week and spending a few days down there. At least it will still be summer time when we go down there, so that’s good.”

YOU’VE COME INTO YOUR OWN AS A DRIVER IN THIS SPORT. WHAT DO YOU WANT FANS TO KNOW ABOUT YOU THAT HASN’T ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN?
“Well, I’m not sure. I guess people can form their own opinions as time goes. For me, I’m here to do my job and go fast and hopefully I can achieve that. And, whatever people’s opinions form outside of that is kind of up to them.”

HEADING TO BRISTOL IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS, WHAT’S YOUR CONFIDENCE LEVEL THERE AS THE RACING HAS EVOLVED?
“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 okay 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 is pretty cool, too.”

THE NOSTALGIA ABOUT DAYTONA WAS RACING IN THE MORNING AND THEN EVERYBODY WENT TO THE BEACH IN THE AFTERNOON. FOR MOST OF YOUR LIFE, IT’S BEEN A NIGHT RACE. DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE THE SAME ASSOCIATION WITH THAT RACE ON JULY 4TH AS MAYBE YOUR DAD DOES?
“You hear people who have been around longer than me talking about racing in the day. But, for me, I like the excitement of a night race myself. That’s all I have ever known. So, if I had a choice, I like it like that. I like going down there and spending the week. It’s typically around the 4th and then racing at Daytona on Saturday night has always been exciting to me. So, I’ve enjoyed that tradition a lot. I obviously didn’t get to experience it the other way, but I like it the way it was.”

LAST YEAR THIS RACE HAD ONE OF THE BEST CUP FINISHES ALL YEAR LONG. WITH THE NEW PACKAGE, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE POTENTIAL IS FOR MORE OF THAT DRAMATIC RACING?
“It’s just chance. Who knows? Racing is racing and you’re going to have days where there’s finishes like that. I guess that’s the excitement of it is that you hope when you’re watching one of these things that you’re going to see something spectacular like that happen. And, that’s just not always going to be the case. If it happened every week it wouldn’t be near as cool. That’s why we like it.”

JOE GIBBS AND PENSKE DOMINANCE AND YOU HAVE THE LONE CHEVY WIN. IS THERE ANY EXTRA PRESSURE IN CARRYING THAT LOAD TRYING TO PROPEL CHEVY BACK INTO THE DISCUSSION AS WE HEAD INTO THE SUMMER SEASON?
“Not really. It was great to have a win. It was definitely a major group Team Chevy effort to make that happen, so that was nice. Any time you can win is good and it certainly helps. I think we’re consistently from year to year, at some of the races this year I feel like we’ve been a good bit better than this time last year. At times we’ve certainly struggled some weeks, too. But no, there’s really no extra pressure on me or anybody. We all want to do good. We don’t want to see those guys win every other week. I don’t like it. But it doesn’t mean I’m not trying or anybody is not trying. That’s just part of it right now. I’ve watched this deal for a long time and thinks kind of go up and down. You ride the rollercoaster where it’s at. We’re going to ride it where we are right now and I have confidence that one day it will turn around for us too.”

WITH THE WAY YOU GUYS STARTED OFF THE SEASON, MAYBE THE FOCUS WASN’T ON THE TOP TEAMS AS MUCH AS IT WAS ON GETTING BETTER. AS YOU HAVE CERTAINLY HAD GREATER SUCCESS, DO YOU START LOOKING MORE AT THE GIBBS AND PENSKE CARS AND MEASURING YOURSELF MORE NOW THAN PERHAPS EARLIER IN THE SEASON?
“No, I feel like you always measure yourself to whoever the best is. It’s always that way or at least it has been for us. I don’t view it any different now than I have before.”

EVERYBODY IS ASKING ABOUT MARTIN TRUEX JR. AND KYLE BUSCH AND THEIR RIVALRY. WHAT’S IT LIKE OVER AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? DO WE NOT SEE THE INTENSE COMPETITION? IS IT THERE WHEN YOU DO BETTER THAN YOUR TEAMMATES?
“You always want to outrun everybody and your teammates are always included in that. At the same time when we’re all running better as a group, it’s benefitting all of us. Sometimes it’s hard to realize that in the moment, but that is certainly the case. It’s an easy storyline for those guys because they’re finishing first and second a lot. That’s great for them. And, I’m sure that’s a great situation to be in. If that was the case for us as it has been for them these past few weeks like it has been for them, I’m sure it would be driving the guy who finished second more to want to outrun the guy who run. Those are the kinds of things you want within an organization. They’re lucky to have a good thing going right now. I think we can have the same thing. We’ve just got to keep pushing.”

HAVE YOU NOTICED ANYTHING ABOUT THE WILLIAM BYRON AND CREW CHIEF, CHAD KNAUS DYNAMIC BEHIND THE SCENES LIKE THEIR AGE GAP OR ANYTHING?
“No. It seems like it’s been pretty good to me. I haven’t seen any complaints or any meltdowns or anything. I don’t work with them on a day-to-day basis. I’m not in a lot of their meetings and things. I haven’t seen where they haven’t gotten along or have had any issues. Obviously their performance has been increasing and getting a lot better. They had a great car last weekend. And, it looks like he was really fast again today. So, I think it looks good from afar.”

YOU’VE ALMOST HAD YOUR FIRST WIN HERE ONCE OR TWICE BEFORE. NOW YOU ENTER CHICAGO WITH SEVERAL WINS UNDER YOUR BELT. DOES THAT INCREASE YOUR LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE?
“This has been a great and tough place all at the same time in my first few years. But no, I don’t look at it any different. Just because you have a good run here once doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again. I mentioned that with Bristol where we’ve had some great cars and felt like we had some chances to win there. We go back the next time thinking it’s going to be all good and great and easy and we’re terrible. And that’s just life. I suspect this weekend is going to be a challenge, just like they always are. And yeah, today we struggled through that first practice. It’s not just as easy as showing back up with what you had, unfortunately. That’s what makes the guys who are really good, really good.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

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