| NASCAR CUP SERIES LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM BUSCH LIGHT CLASH AT THE COLISEUM TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING REPORT FEBRUARY 4, 2023 Three Team Chevy Drivers Take Heat Race Pole Positions · On-track action at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum got underway this afternoon with a practice session. Alex Bowman led Chevrolet drivers on the speed chart, clocking in a fourth-fastest lap overall in his No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1. · Single car qualifying determined the starting lineups for tomorrow’s four heat races, with the top-four fastest cars securing the pole position for each heat race. · Justin Haley and the No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1 team topped the leaderboard in qualifying, securing his first career NASCAR Cup Series Clash pole win. · Three of the top-four fastest cars in qualifying came from the Bowtie brigade. Joining Haley in securing a heat race pole position included Kyle Busch, No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL1 (second-fastest), and William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1 (fourth-fastest). · FOX will telecast from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, February 5, starting with qualifying heat races and last chance qualifying races at 5 p.m. ET, followed by the main event for the 45th running of the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum at 8 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE LEADERBOARD: POS. DRIVER4th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL17th Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL110th Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL113th Kyle Busch, No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL114th William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL119th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL122nd Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL123rd Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Jockey Camaro ZL124th AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL125th Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Animal Control FOX Camaro ZL126th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL127th Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL128th Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Food 4 Less / Velveeta Camaro ZL129th Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Camaro ZL132nd Ty Dillon, No. 77 NASCAR Fan Rewards Camaro ZL136th BJ McLeod, No. 78 Celsius Camaro ZL1 TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULTS: POS. DRIVER1st Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL12nd Kyle Busch, No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL14th William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL16th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL18th AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL19th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL110th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 |
| Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1, Press Conference Transcript – Q. You got your first career NASCAR Cup Series pole here. Talk about that advantage heading into tomorrow. “It’s obviously key. We fired off here last year and we were pretty good. Obviously, we had some trouble during the race. I felt like we had a pretty good No. 31 Celsius Chevy in practice. I just felt like I wasn’t getting the full potential out of the race car, and then obviously in qualifying, our lap was just dominant. I feel pretty confident about where we are. It’s a good place to start the season. I’m not sure why we’re so good here. I wish I had this much talent at all of the races, but I’m pretty thankful. It’s pretty cool to get Kaulig Racing their first NASCAR Cup Series pole; my first pole as a driver in my second year here; and get Celsius their first pole.” Q. Any difference in the track? How it handled, characteristics? “No, it’s the same. It probably doesn’t look fast, but yeah it’s pretty similar. I wouldn’t say anything is noticeably different.” Q. Did you come with the same setup that you started with here last year? “No idea. They do not let me know any details on setups. I couldn’t tell you a single air pressure or a single spring. That comes from Chris Rice. He just wants me to drive the race car. I have no idea if I have four tires on the race car or three. I would assume we’re close. We’re obviously pretty good. I wish I had a better answer for you, but I honestly don’t know details like that.” Q. What do you think suits you about this track? “I don’t know. I’m terrible at Martinsville (Speedway). Martinsville might be my worst race track. I just feel like we’ve been good. Obviously, the car is a lot of it. It’s cool that we’re good here. We just have to figure that out everywhere else.” Q. Did you ever end up having a conversation with (Kyle) Larson? “Yeah, I did right after the race. Right after the race, I went up to him when he was getting out of the car. I was pretty calm and I was just like, ‘hey, what was that’. We just had a conversation, he said he messed up. I said ‘cool’ and that was it. No reason to hold a grudge or anything. Obviously he’s an excellent race car driver and we’ve been good ever since. Today at our seminar we had, I asked him what kind of jeans he bought because we’re pretty similar in fit and leg length in jeans. Yeah, we’re good friends.” Q. I was talking to Chris (Rice) earlier today about the amount of coverage you get, or lack thereof. How important was it for you to beat out a lot of more high profile drivers during qualifying? “Yeah, that’s a tricky line to say. Obviously the better we run, the more coverage we’re going to get. There was a race last year in the Playoffs at the (Charlotte) ROVAL where we ran in the top-five all day and didn’t get an interview afterwards. I think that he’s always been pretty upset about that. We weren’t a playoff car and we have to run better week in and week out to get talked about. We’re also a young team. Matt Kaulig is building this thing from the ground up. He didn’t buy a race team that was already pre-built. He’s done it all from the ground up and you have to respect that about him. We have to earn our name in the sport, earn my name in the sport. I have to feel like I belong, which has been tough for me. It was a very humbling year last year trying to figure out if I belong at the top or not. Yeah, it’s been hard, but having moments like this solidifies it a little bit more.” Q. You said no grudges held with Larson, but is there still payback owed? “No, it’s terrible to intentionally wreck another race car driver.” Q. Is there a chip on your shoulder with the strong showing you had here last year? “I feel like I have to prove myself every week and we have to prove ourselves as a race team. We have to go out there every week and prove that we’re a team worthy of being here, and that I’m a driver worthy of being in this field. I think the biggest thing last year was just respect. I think towards the end of the year, I gained a lot of respect from other drivers. I started talking with a lot of them a lot more. It’s hard being a new driver in a top series. It’s tough, but I kind of feel like I’ve earned that respect now and I’m pretty good friends with a lot of the other drivers.” Q. Talk to us about how the track changed between practice and qualifying, and what does that tell you about tomorrow between the heat races and the main event? “I think it was pretty similar. The tough part is obviously just getting heat in the tires. You see us all playing all kinds of weird games to do so. Honestly, I felt like we were better on the long runs. I thought we were going to struggle in qualifying and I told AJ (Allmendinger) that. I thought we were going to qualify around the 20’s. But I don’t think the track really changed. It being new asphalt, it definitely had some oils and grease in it. But I honestly can’t say that I felt like it was any different.” Q. Talk about your crew chief and your team. “I have the exact same team as I did last year, with Trent Owens as my crew chief. Darren is my car chief and Garrett is my engineer. The only change we had this year was an interior guy. The No. 16 team helps a lot. We all go to the simulator together and we all share very similar setups at Kaulig Racing. We usually go to the race track identical. It’s very important to have AJ (Allmendinger) on full-time this year. He was professionally racing when I was born, so just to have his expertise, all of his knowledge and everything he’s been through. I feel like we’re pretty strong. We’re still a very little team. Our pit crews are still leased out from Trackhouse, so we don’t have that in-house, and we have an alliance with RCR.” Q. How important is it to just focus on what is at hand, focus on driving? “Usually the cool part about this race is that there’s nothing to lose. We’re just out here not points racing or anything, and just putting it all out on the line. That’s definitely a different mentality going into it. I think the heat race format is cool. Still haven’t lost a heat race. I don’t want to jinx myself, but I won both of them last year. So we’ll try to keep that streak going. Tomorrow is going to be a long day and I’m excited for it.” |