MOTORSPORT AMERICA PHOTO
Last year, the front-row for the DAYTONA 500 was swept by Ford. Was
there a concern with the speed of the Chevrolet’s this year, or how
did you feel after practice?
“No concern, at least from my perspective. I’m not worried about
it.. whether we qualify on the pole or not. The practice thing is really
hard to know, just because – like I can look at the timing sheet, but
I’m not sitting there watching who’s drafting and who’s not. I
can’t keep up with all of that at one time. I don’t know.. I think
until you get into qualifying tonight and everyone is on a level playing
field with the cars being cold, going out for the first time and all
that, you really just don’t know. I think it’s a hard thing to
guess.”
“It’s so frustrating sometimes because like we’re sitting down
there in line, you know, and some people were trying to get a nice gap
and then there were other people trying to fill the gap and are rushing.
So there’s always that element to making single-car runs. Just getting
impatient sitting down there and wanting to go. I understand that, but
that’s the most confusing element. Outside of that, I think it’s
pretty standard ops, really.”
President Trump was at the Super Bowl last weekend. You were there and
saw it. There are rumors he’s going to be here on Sunday. How would
you feel about having him in attendance?
“Yeah, I wasn’t sitting next to him, but I saw that he was there at
the game the other day. Yeah, I think having a sitting President come
and be a part of one of our biggest days of the year – certainly what
I would call our biggest event of the year, I think is special. It
certainly brings a lot of eyes and a different perspective to what we do
down here for this race. I always thought it was really cool — I
remember, a long time ago now, the sitting president used to call the
winner. I don’t know if you all remember that or not, but there was
some stories of that happening. I’ve never won, so I don’t know if
that still happens or not. But I just think that — it just goes to show
you that it’s a big deal, right? I don’t care who the President is
at that point.. that’s just a cool thing. I had heard stories of that
happening and I hope that still goes on..”
So you’d like to get a call from President Trump on Sunday?
“That sounds like we would have won the race at that point, so that
sounds like a good thing.”
If you could redo a race from 2024, which race would that be?
“Hmm.. that’s tough. There’s a lot of races that I would redo.
You know, probably Indy, I would say sticks out to me the most. We had
our violation there early in the race, which I kind of thought was our
death sentence that day. And then the next thing you know, the way the
race cycled out, we ended up being — we were actually the first car on
the winning strategy at the end of that race. I just didn’t get
through traffic very well. Kyle (Larson) and Tyler (Reddick) knifed
their way up through there and both had a shot to win the race. I just
felt like that was on me. I didn’t do a good job. We had a great car
that weekend, and I needed to take better advantage of a good
opportunity.”
Christopher Bell said earlier today that he felt like the practice
session this morning was unnecessary. Where do you stand on practice
before qualifying here?
“Yeah, I think that’s a fair statement for someone like him, or
someone like me, who’s been here and who’s done it. But I look at it
like this — from a weekly standpoint.. do we need practice at length,
like we had in years past? Absolutely not. But for a race like this —
we’re down here all week anyway. We have Media Day today. We qualify
tonight. It’s not a big deal. It’s an hour practice and gives guys
who have maybe not driven a Cup car before, rookies, people coming in to
make at least a lap or two.. I don’t think that’s hurting anything.
It’s not like we’re here extra early to do that.. days in advance or
anything. I agree with him.. not necessary for people that have been
here for a little while. But I could certainly see the argument for guys
who haven’t, you know, so I get that. I don’t want it to be taken
the wrong way, like it needs to be that way all the time, but just to be
clear.”
What does the DAYTONA 500 mean to you?
“It means a great opportunity to submit your name into the history
books of the sport, is kind of how I look at it. This race has always
been, in my view, been kind of it’s own event. I understand it’s
part of the season, the winner gets locked-in or kind of locked-in..
however you all want to say it. They’re locked-in when they leave
here, right? And then it gets close to the playoffs and we’re
promoting how many winners we have, right? It’s always important to
remember that a win does not lock you in, if you get more winners than
you have spots. I kind of don’t like that narrative, but I do think
that — it’s just it’s own thing. It’s an opportunity to put your
name on that big trophy over there; to finish your career and say
you’ve won the DAYTONA 500. That’s what it is. It’s an opportunity
to do that, which is a really big deal.”
It’s been 10 years since your first DAYTONA 500 start….
“Yeah, it’s just honestly crazy that it’s been that long, to be
honest. It’s just gone by so fast. Every year has felt so different to
me. I think people look at careers and they think of just this one big
storybook, with every year being a different chapter. And to me, it’s
almost like every year is its own book. That’s how different the
seasons feel to me. Just so much changes.. I mean, I was 20 or 21 years
old my first year, and now I’m almost 30 and just like — for everyone
standing here that is almost 30 years old or older than 30, how much did
your life change from 20 to 30? How much different did you look at
things from 20 to 30? That’s just a huge chunk of your life that just
makes things feel different, you know? Every year has its own story and
it’s own feel. I’ve enjoyed that ride. Some of its been really
good.. some of it’s not been so good. But there’s a lot of
experiences in all of that that I think can help shape you and mold you
to be better, and the only thing you can control is today moving
forward.”
Was this off-season any different than past off-seasons. If that’s how
seasons feel, did this one feel any different?
“The off-season in particular? Not really. You know, I enjoy being
around home; spending the holidays with family and all that sort of
thing. And that’s pretty standard, I would say. But certainly from a
competition standpoint and just kind of how we finished last year, the
things we were focused on going into this year — the way I was looking
at things at the end of last year versus how I was looking at things the
year before are different. You hope that that they’re better, or I
hope that it’s better. But from that standpoint, absolutely. From the
off-season side of things, not really.”
Good things on the horizon for your foundation this year?
“We’re still working through that, but it will likely be more of a
program that we’ve done with the ‘DESI9N TO DRIVE’. And we’re
looking at kind of adjusting and changing things a little bit moving
forward. I think this year will probably stay the same, and maybe after
this year, we’ll kind of look at trying to find some other unique way
to do something cool.”
As you start getting older, do you start thinking about the future and
what you’re going to do post-driving career?
“I really haven’t. I don’t know what I would want to do. It’s a
hard thing to — It’s kind of one of those things, I feel like..
I’ve watched other guys go through that. I’ve watched other guys
leave and come back. I’ve kind of seen it all, I guess, depending upon
who it is. But I think those feelings, those emotions, that timing or
whatever’s next — you have to kind of assess those things when that
time comes. As I said a second ago, so much can change. You could look
at things a little differently. Your interest might be a little
different or something. When those moments come, you’ll address them.
You’ll assess it, address it and make those decisions and you’ll
know that’s the right time to make those decisions I think. I think
it’s just kind of a feeling thing, from what I’ve gathered. I
don’t know.. I don’t want to go anywhere yet, so I hope I can stick
around for a few more years.”
On Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports attempting to make the DAYTONA
500 as a former JRM driver:
“I know it’s a big deal to him, and I hope that they’re
successful and are able to get into the show and all that. I think to
have a guy like him involved in any capacity I think is a good thing.
He’s just passionate about it. He’s been very vocal about how much
it means to him and to field a Cup car, especially here at the DAYTONA
500. I just think it’s healthy and it’s good. I’m glad that the
system isn’t so complicated or has gotten so outrageously expensive
that that couldn’t happen because it almost kind of felt that way, you
know, there for a little while that he was kind of scared to get in a
little bit was the vibe I got.. or kind of scared to make that
commitment. So I’m just glad that it makes sense, you know, and he can
come in and field a car and have fun with it and live a dream that
he’s had.”
From a team perspective, how much confidence did the Clash win give you?
“Yeah, it was great. And really not just that, but the end of last
year was really encouraging for us. I thought we ended on a really good
note. We were just a little late to the party, you know, I think really
and truly. We started to run better and lead some laps there at the end
of the year, and we had a great shot there to win a couple of races in
the last month. I thought all of that was really encouraging. To be able
to build on those things; to come out and perform the way we did on
Saturday. Yes, the race went well, but all of that start over the
off-season, and the things we were focused on, talking about and
thinking about and trying to make sure we executed properly. And then to
go do that, I thought that was a nice boost for us. I don’t think
it’s one of those things where it will make your year or even break
your year if it didn’t go well, but certainly nice to know that the
things we’ve been zoned in on and pushing were also reality at Bowman
Gray, too.”
Your insights are always so helpful—thanks for this!