CHEVROLET RACING VIDEO: Daytona Road Course PrepFeaturing Alex Bowman and Jordan Taylor at Chevrolet Racing Simulator

· Alex Bowman Q&A Session· Jordan Taylor Q&A Session(Transcripts available below)· Chevrolet Simulator B-roll (individual shots)· Chevrolet Simulator B-Roll(Bowman, Taylor Together)
CHARLOTTE, NC (Aug. 13, 2020) – With the first NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) race at the all-new Daytona International Speedway Road Course set to unfold on Sunday, one of the many tools that Team Chevy drivers used to prepare is Chevrolet Racing’s Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) simulator, located just outside of Charlotte, NC.
Much more than just a game, Chevy’s DiL is a proven, high fidelity and very immersive system used by professional race teams, which gives a visual of a specific track and then replicates how that track feels to the driver.
In Team Chevy spirit, Alex Bowman, who drives the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Hendrick Motorsports, and Jordan Taylor, who campaigns the No. 3 Corvette C8.R with teammate Antonio Garcia for Corvette Racing, were together this week at the Chevy DiL to discuss the completely new challenge that awaits. 
Although the upcoming 65-lap Go Bowling 235 will run on the same road course layout as the Rolex 24 At Daytona, North America’s premier race for sports cars, it will feature an added twist. The traditional ribbon of asphalt out of NASCAR Turn Four will sport a new chicane that transforms the design into a 14-turn, 3.57-mile, high-banked tri-oval/infield road course, which is unique to all motorsports. With NASCAR having curtailed practice sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic, preparation is key.
Bowman, with two career NCS wins to his credit and who formerly served as an integral part of the simulation and on-track testing programs for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet, collaborates with Taylor. He and Garcia lead the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with two victories in the new mid-engine Corvette C8.R. Among them was a win at the IMSA WeatherTech 240 at Daytona – the Corvette C8.R’s first win and Corvette Racing’s 100th in IMSA competition. 
CHEVROLET RACING INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTSALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LEYOU ARE VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE CHEVY SIMULATOR, MAYBE MORE THAN ANY OTHER DRIVER. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT WORKING ON IT WITH JORDAN TAYLOR AND DID IT HELP?“It’s been a lot of fun today. I definitely learned some things that made me quite a bit faster and picked up some speed. Hopefully we get to the race track and I say, ‘Man that really helped a lot and worked really well.’ It’s always interesting to see how the simulator correlates to the real racetrack, what carries over and what doesn’t. Without going somewhere, it’s hard to know how it is going to correlate but we’ll find out Sunday afternoon.”
YOU WERE HERE ON MONDAY AS WELL, BUT TODAY YOU WERE WITH JORDAN.  WERE THERE ANY PARTICULAR THINGS THAT JORDAN WAS ABLE TO HELP WITH THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW OR SEE MONDAY?“Jordan really helped with entry to Turn Five. His entry in there was quite different than how I was approaching it. Some of the braking zones were a little bit different. Then some line stuff and some rain stuff as well. Having his knowledge is super helpful. He’s a really good guy and I really appreciate his help. The rain will be the biggest thing. I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing in the rain, so being able to have an idea of what to expect there is a big help.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS FOR HOW WILD OR TAME THIS RACE IS GOING TO BE THIS WEEKEND?“You have 40 racecar drivers who are going to try and keep it tame, but it will probably get pretty wild. The Roval is kind of its own animal. It gets pretty wild, and I think we’ll have more of that at the Daytona Road Course. It’s so different than anything else we’ve done. No one has many laps there; a couple of guys have some races. But for the most part we have no laps there. Going in there without practice is going to be pretty wild.”
JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.RYOU ARE WORKING WITH SOME OF THE HENDRICK DRIVERS AT THE CHEVY SIMULATOR.  ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC ELEMENTS TO THIS TRACK YOU ARE HELPING THEM WITH?“Mostly letting the guys know some of the little nuances that come with the Daytona Road Course. When you look at it on a track map, it looks pretty basic but each corner has little tricks that can help you. They’re going into this race with zero practice and zero laps on this track, so they need as much preparation as they can get. From my side, I bring some experience from that track that I can give him – little tips that maybe would take them a session or two to figure out. Hopefully they can hit the ground running when they show up for raceday.”
YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE DRIVEN THE CORVETTE C8.R ON THE CHEVY SIMULATOR ON THIS TRACK. WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE WITH THE CAMARO ZL1 1LE ON A LAP AROUND THERE?“The two cars are very different. The Corvette C8.R is designed more for this type of racing where the Cup car is obviously designed for the ovals. So when it comes to a road course, it doesn’t handle that quite as well with braking performance, traction and overall grip level. From a driving point of view, it was fun to drive both. It was eye-opening to see what the Cup guys go through on a road course. They really have to throw it around a bit. There are no driver aids so it’s all up to them on how they get around there. There aren’t too many similarities in driving style, but the way you drive the track is going to be similar – the tendencies, the trail-braking, which curbs you want to use and which ones you want to avoid.”
THIS RACE IS 325 MILES AS OPPOSED TO 24 HOURS OF RACING THAT YOU GUYS NORMALLY DO ON THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE. WHAT KIND OF RACE DO YOU EXPECT FOR THE CUP DRIVERS? “The NASCAR Cup race will be exciting. Having no practice and when the green flag drops, it’ll be exciting to see what happens on those first few laps. Looking at our 24-hour race, it’s about survival and it will be the same thing for them. It will be about surviving to get to the end just because no one has experience there. They’re going to have to be a little easy at the beginning, but maintaining decent track position will be key. It’s going to be a tough track to pass on. After that last pit stop, you’re going to be want to be as far up front as possible to maintain track position.”
CORVETTE RACING WILL BE PART OF AN IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE AT THE CHARLOTTE ROVAL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OCTOBER. DO YOU FORSEE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A LITTLE BIT OF A ROLE REVERSAL AND LEARNING THAT TRACK FROM THE CUP DRIVERS?“It would be great to have them come back to the simulator and help us prepare for the Charlotte Roval. None of us on the sports car side have driven the new course there, and they’ve had a couple races in the past. It would be nice to get some feedback from them and some tips and tricks they’ve learned the last couple of years. The Hendrick guys have had a lot of success there with Chase (Elliott) winning and I think Alex was top-three there a couple years running in qualifying. They know how to go quick around there. When we go there for the first time with our Corvette C8.R, they can definitely show us a few things.”