MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
RICHMOND RACEWAY
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 12, 2019
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 47 SCOTT COMFORT PLUS CAMARO ZL1 met with media in a breakout session at Richmond Raceway. Select Highlights:
HOW GOOD WAS BRISTOL AND HOW TOUGH WAS BRISTOL?
‘It was good until it wasn’t. So, what a heartbreaker. That was a really good day for us. To be at a home track for Bush’s for us to have a solid day going, realistically we could have been a top 5. We were around the No. 1 (Kurt Busch) car all day. That one hurts, for sure. To run that good all day and work our way up there from qualifying and you’ll have that. It’s a bummer. But at the same time, our pit crew did a fantastic job all day. We were up there with teams we’re not around every week and we didn’t lose spots on pit road. I’m very proud of them. You win together and you lose together and that one we lost and that one hurts. But, It was a good momentum day for us.
“Even here. We showed up here at Richmond off the truck with really good speed. I’ll be the first to tell you this is not my favorite race track. And so that was pleasantly surprising for me. I really wanted to get that final practice in. That wasn’t in my control. We’re hoping for qualifying here and to kind of get a game plan or an idea of where we are and then get a game plan for the race.”
WERE YOU IN RACE TRIM OR QUALIFYING TRIM THIS MORNING?
“Race trim. With the impound stuff, it’s pretty minimal change anyway. At the beginning of first practice we planned on taping up. And that’s really about all we do.”
DO YOU HAVE THE SAME EXPECTATIONS HERE THAT YOU DID AT BRISTOL LAST WEEK, GIVEN THE PRACTICE?
“No. I am pleasantly surprised with how practice went, and I shouldn’t say I’m shocked. We ran a lot better at Phoenix than we have in the past. This one had kind of compared to that race track for me through the years. And all of our group was really excited coming into this. They’ve worked really hard to find something different. And, we showed up with something and we had speed. We’re trying to make it hold on a little longer, which is always something you’re looking for here at Richmond. We didn’t get a chance to test that. From a speed aspect, with everyone mocking up a little bit, I don’t know where we are but we have good speed out of our Scott Comfort Camaro ZL1. So, I would like to qualify to get a little bit of improvement and then also get an idea for the race. We did make some more changes to try and find something that would hold on better.”
HAVE YOU NOTICED A DIFFERENCE WITH THE HENDRICK RELATIONSHIP?
“We’ve had our relationship with them and the motor program this season has been good. We took all the power away at the same time that we were getting different stuff. There’s no real back-to-back comparison. But the communication lines have been really good. It kind of got us involved with just one organization and it helps. We have our pit crew coming through Hendrick Motorsports, through our engine, and some of the other support that we get. It does make just a cleaner line of communication, and that’s been really good. And, I think we’ve had good speed this season. There’s not doubt about it. We’ve picked up five spots consistently from where we were at this time last year. So, that’s a good pick-up over the off-season. And that’s not just due to that relationship. That’s due to a lot of hard work back at the shop and everybody at JTG Daugherty Racing working really hard to plan for this different rules package that we have now and I think they did a terrific job of finding us something that’s more competitive and it’s our job to fine-tune it from here.”