MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
DIGITAL ALLY 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MAY 10, 2019
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 media breakout session highlights:
ON THE FAN VOTE FOR THE UPCOMING ALL-STAR RACE
“I think having the support of internet forums is pretty big when it comes to online votes.”
CAN’T YOU RALLY THE TROOPS?
“Yeah, but I’d rather just go win.”
IF YOU DO HAVE TO RACE YOUR WAY IN, DO YOU HAVE ANY CLUE HOW THINGS WILL GO? HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN WHAT YOUR CAR IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE YET AS FAR AS THE NEW RADIATOR?
“I guess the teams were given the pieces last Friday. So, it’s pretty last minute, for sure. I didn’t see them while I was at the shop this week. So, I’m interested to see what it looks like. Hopefully it will make the racing really good and I’m kind of excited to see what we have there.
“Instead of having a long time to work on them, the guys just work all night and work crazy hours on them. I’m very appreciative of all the hard work going on in the back of the shop because those guys are working a lot of long hours and I think it’s starting to show. But, getting parts and pieces kind of last-minute like that is definitely going to make for some long hours.”
WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON THE ALL-STAR RACE? YOU WANT TO RACE YOUR WAY IN AND SAY TO TAKE YOUR NAME OFF THE BALLOT. LET’S SAY YOU RACE YOUR WAY IN AND THE WEEKEND GOES PERFECTLY. WHAT’S A MILLION DOLLARS MEAN TO A GUY LIKE YOU?
“Yeah, it means a lot, for sure. We’ve been talking about how much a hundred grand means with the pitch to win big deal for Nationwide and their Small Business Program and that’s ten times that. That would be pretty special. I’m not sure how much I do or don’t get to keep out of it, but I’ll take whatever we can get if we can make it happen.”
COMING FROM 750 HORSEPOWER DOWN TO 550 IS KIND OF LIKE STEPPING ON A SPONGE COMPARED TO WHAT YOU HAD LAST WEEK. HOW MANY LAPS DO YOU THINK YOU CAN GO FLAT IF YOU’RE OUT THERE BY YOURSELF?
“I think the challenge is just keeping your momentum up. The race track is going to keep changing. Tomorrow night is going to be much different than today was. I ran a 36-lap run. Aside from some traffic, I never really lifted. So I was flat the whole time. The next two runs, I started having to lift a little bit and handling came into play a little more. If you’re car is perfect, you’ll be able to run wide-open for quite a while.”
WHEN YOU TAKE THAT POWER AWAY YOU’VE GOT TO FREE THAT CAR UP A LITTLE BIT THAT GETS YOU CLOSER TO THE EDGE?
“I don’t know. The mid-corner speeds are just really high. So, you definitely can’t afford to be tight. That bogs the car down a ton and then in traffic, it obviously makes it really hard to pass. So, you want to be free. This place, being a newer paved race track is always kind of edgy anyway when you do get loose. Yeah, you’re pretty close to the edge but everybody’s got to flight the same thing.”
IS IT MORE CHALLENGING TO RUN THESE CARS ON THE EDGE LIKE IT IS WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING FLAT ALL THE TIME?
“Not here, no. I think here, physically, is probably the same as it was if not easier. A place like Dover, I think was really physical and a long day. This race is, at least for me, my car is good enough that I’ve feel like in the past I’ve been working harder here, but at Dover we were working our butts off, for sure.”