NASCAR CUP SERIES
AUTO CLUB 400
AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY BREAKOUT SESSION HIGHLIGHTS
FEBRUARY 28, 2020
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA 24 TRIBUTE CAMARO ZL1 1LE BREAKOUT SESSION HIGHLIGHTS:
WOULD YOU EVER SLEEP IN A TEEPEE LIKE RYAN BLANEY, OR IS THAT NOT YOUR SCENE?
“No. That’s not my scene. I went back home. We’re testing the Next Gen car here on Monday and Tuesday. So, I’ll be out West the rest of next week.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS ON THAT CAR? DO YOU HAVE ANY FEEDBACK FROM ANYBODY WHO’S BEEN IN IT?
“Not really. I know they had some steering sensitivity or something the first test, so I’m not sure. I’ll be fun to run it. This place is just so drastically different. It’ll be kind of fun to make some laps here and see how much they let me run the wall and stuff. So, I don’t know how that’s going to work, but it should be fun.”
YOU WERE PRETTY GOOD IN THE TRUCK SERIES. ANY INTEREST IN THE BOUNTY? OR ARE YOU JUST GOING TO LET KYLE LARSON HAVE ALL THE FUN?
“If I could run a KBM truck against Kyle’s KBM truck I think it would be pretty fun, but that’s not possible for me. So, I don’t really have a relationship with GMS. I never really ran one of their trucks, so it would be fun to probably run five or six races this year, but I don’t have the sponsorship. Nobody has come to me and asked me about it. That’s kind of where I’m at with that.”
HOW DID PRACTICE GO TODAY? YOU ARE 18th ON THE LEADERBOARD, BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN GOING INTO QUALIFYING TOMORROW?
“We were swinging for the fences. We were off the start, too tight, and then we ended first practice and then we freed it up a bunch and we were changing a bunch, I think. I don’t really know where we’re at, but we’re just going to have to kind of guess going into the race and hopefully guess right.”
ALEX BOWMAN LOOKED PRETTY SPORTY THOUGH. COULD YOU LEAN ON YOUR TEAMMATE FOR NOTES?
“Oh, yeah; for sure. We look at the data that we have. So, we kind of look at all that stuff and hopefully can gather something from that.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR PHOENIX NEXT WEEK?
“It’s going to be a lot different, I think, going there and kind of being the last test before we go there for the championship race. You’re going to be trying a lot of things, I think, throughout the weekend to see what you can hit on. But we kind of know the guys that have been good there the last couple of years and you’re going to probably have to beat the No. 18 (Kyle Busch), the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin), and the No. 19 (Martin Truex, Jr.), so it should be the usual contenders, I guess; but it will be definitely different being the last race before you go back there.”
HOW MUCH IS THIS CAR GOING TO EVOLVE BEFORE YOU GET BACK TO PHOENIX IN 8 MONTHS?
“Oh yeah, a lot. Usually when you get back there in the Fall the car drives better because you’ve got more downforace and you’ve got a better idea on set-up. I feel like that’s the biggest thing is once you get back there, you’re in a better position to do well because you have a notebook. So, that’s the biggest thing.”