MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA DAY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 13, 2019
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 met with media and discussed the new rules package, what he works on to improve driver skills, what it takes to get ready for a new season, and more. Selected Quotes:
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO HAVE WILLIAM BYRON AS YOUR TEAMMATE?
“Well, he’s a nerd (laughs). He called me a nerd the other week. He does have the college education, but I probably have more street smarts and he definitely has more book smarts. But no, it’s been cool working with him and getting to know him as well as Jimmie (Johnson) and Chase (Elliott). It’s a pretty cool dynamic we have between the four of us. I think we all bring our individual strengths to the table and can all help each other with our weaknesses.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR 2019? HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOURSELF TO TRY TO DO BETTER THAN THE YEAR BEFORE?
“I was just kind of able to identify some weaknesses last year that I can work on. Hopefully our race cars will be better this year. We’ll see when we get to Atlanta and know what we have to work with. Everybody is working so hard at HMS. I’m working harder than I ever have been to try to be a better race car driver. Hopefully it pays off. Goals are as high if not higher than last year and we want to go win races and contend for a championship.”
WHAT WERE SOME OF THOSE WEAKNESSES?
“Just little things like I felt like maximizing pit road stuff and little stuff like that. I feel like hopefully we can improve on that and hopefully it pays off.”
HOW ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH NATIONWIDE AND AXALTA? HOW IS THAT TRANSITION OF MOVING OVER FROM DALE EARNHARDT JR. TO YOU?
‘It’s been great with both Nationwide and Axalta have been a lot of fun to work with. Its kind of cool to share the Axalta deal with William and to get both of us doing similar stuff has been neat. Nationwide is always a lot of fun between pet insurance and all the things we’ve had on the car with them and going to the Children’s Hospital and all that; it’s a really neat brand to be a part of.”
WHAT SORT OF TECHNOLOGY & TOOLS CAN YOU USE TO BECOME A BETTER RACE CAR DRIVER? WE ALWAYS HEAR ABOUT FILM STUDY. IS THAT WHAT WE WATCH OR ARE THERE CAMERAS ONLY YOU GUYS HAVE ACCESS TO? WHAT TOOLS DO YOU USE?
“Everything is pretty accessible. We have the SMT stuff so you can at other people’s data with that. But looking at film and really just trying to maximize every little thing. Every thing is so minimal that we can do. Everything is separated by so little. We just work really hard at trying to maximize every little thing.”
IF YOU HAD ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD JUST TO WORK ON BEING A GREAT RACE CAR DRIVER, WOULD PHYSICAL OR MENTAL TAKE MORE TIME TO BE READY FOR A RACE SEASON?
“Mental, for sure. The mental part of what we do is more straining than you would think. You have to be more focused for a longer period of time than really a lot of other sports. It’s tough. It’s mentally a really tough sport.”
CAN THE FOUR HENDRICK CARS DO ON SUNDAY AT DAYTONA WHAT THE FORDS DID IN THE DRAFT AT TALLADEGA LAST YEAR? CAN IT BE DONE AGAIN?
“I would love to sit here and say yes it can be done; and hopefully we could do that. That was incredible to watch. You couldn’t even get beside them. They were so fast. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’ve got to get the other two cars in the second row first, and go from there. Hopefully we can make that happen”
ON THE NEW RULES PACKAGE
“I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes. I’m really interested to see how it races. I don’t think we really know what to expect until we get going with it. I wouldn’t say it suits my driving style. I kind of grew up driving light horsepower cars and now we have a heavy low-horsepower car with a lot of downforce. So, it’s different. I’m going to have to adapt to it and learn it. But, so does everybody else.”
JRM HAS A FEW RACES OPEN IN THE NO. 9 CAR. IF THE OPPORTUNITY WAS PRESENTED, WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO JUMP-IN?
“Absolutely. Just got to find somebody to pay for it. It’s tough. I’m not going to write a check to go drive a race car. I try to do the opposite. I try to get paid to drive race cars. So, I’m trying to make a living. It’s just hard. Somebody has to pay for it. The cars are expensive to go run. It would be great to find a sponsor and go run some.”