NASCAR CUP SERIES COOK OUT SOUTHERN 500 DARLINGTON RACEWAY TEAM CHEVY PLAYOFFS MEDIA DAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
 ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – ROTATION TRANSCRIPT:
ASIDE FROM YOURSELF, WHO DO YOU THINK IS SORT OF A ‘DARK HORSE’ OR A SURPRISE DRIVER THAT CAN MAKE A RUN IN THESE PLAYOFFS?“That’s a good question – I wish you would have left out the ‘aside from myself’ (laughs). Honestly, I think William Byron, just coming off of a win, could be really strong. I feel like as a team, everybody at HMS has picked up lately – been faster, been having some goods runs. So, I think any of the HMS cars can be really strong. I don’t think anybody really considers Chase Elliott a ‘dark horse’. I can’t pick myself, so I’ll go with William.”
CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE CHALLENGE OF MAXIMIZING TIME ON PIT ROAD AND DO IT WITHOUT A PIT ROAD SPEEDING PENALTY? I DON’T THINK YOU’VE HAD A SPEEDING PENALTY THIS YEAR AND JUST HOW YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO MANAGE THAT. IS THERE A TRUE SKILL THERE OR IS IT JUST RUDIMENTARY IN JUST LOOKING AT WHAT THE LIGHTS TELL YOU TO DO? “Yeah, it’s pretty rudimentary, as far as being able to look at what lights tell you to do. There’s a lot of different settings that you can do with your dash and how you choose to react to what the lights are saying. A Cup car doesn’t drive smoothly at those speeds and the pit roads aren’t perfectly smooth. The lights jump around a lot, basically. If you want the lights accurate, they jump around a lot. If you make them not jump around, they aren’t very accurate. So, just finding what works for you as a driver in that sense is really important. But also, curved pit roads throw another element in. Segments throw another element in. It’s all really based off of time, it’s not really based off mph. So, sometimes tracks will have one fast segment that you’re not really speeding up – the segment’s technically just wrong, but everybody has to deal with it. There’s a lot of factors to it. It’s really tough on a busy pit road trying not to run into people, trying to hit your pit box well. It’s definitely important, but it’s a big risk versus reward. Like if you have a green flag speeding penalty, it’s a huge, huge deficit for the rest of your day, especially at a speedway race. So, there are times to push and times not to push, for sure.”
THE SUMMER MONTHS WEREN’T VERY GOOD TO YOU, BUT YOU’RE COMING OFF A TOP-FIVE AND A TOP-10 AT DAYTONA AND DOVER. WHERE DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE 88 TEAM STANDS RIGHT NOW? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON DARLINGTON CONSIDERING YOU FINISHED SECOND THERE IN THE FIRST RACE THIS YEAR?“Yeah, you’re right – the summer was pretty rough on us. We started the season really strong. Coming back from the COVID-19 (break), we were still really strong and it fell off really hard for the summer. Trying to identify why that happened, what we did wrong and getting better over the last couple of weeks, especially. So, I think we’re in a good place going into the Playoffs.”“Darlington, for us, we were really fast there the first two races this year. The first race we finished second. The second race we had a way better race car. I started racing my competitors instead of the race track and hit the fence, so that’s on me to not do this time. But I think we can be really strong and have a really good day. I think each and every week during the Playoffs we’re going to be really good, but Darlington is one that we had circled that we can be really strong at, for sure.”
LOOKING AT THE THREE OF YOU BEING IN AND JIMMIE (JOHNSON) NOT BEING IN, IS JIMMIE GOING TO CONTINUE TO WORK HIS JOB AS A DRIVER COACH TO TRY TO GET YOU GUYS THE BEST OPPORTUNITY FOR ONE OF THE HENDRICK CARS TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP?“Yeah, I think so. Jimmie (Johnson) is an open book. We all know the type of person that he is and how much of a help he is to really anybody that asks him – he’s willing to help. I’m very appreciative to have him to lean on and to be able to learn from him. There’s nobody that has gone through probably this Playoff situation and succeeded in it as much as him. Hopefully, we can learn for him. We all want to see him go out on top and win races. I don’t think there’s a driver in the field that doesn’t want to see him win races before he completes his last full-time season. It’s really cool to be able to lean on him and to learn from him, regardless of the Playoff situation. I’m just really thankful to have him as a teammate.”
EACH ONE OF THESE ROUNDS HAS A REALLY TOUGH CUTOFF RACE – A WILD CARD. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ROUND ONE CUTOFF AT BRISTOL?“I think Bristol is pretty unique, just with how much the racetrack changes, the VHT and how that effects it, and how hard it is to pass. I mean you can be way faster than a guy and still not be able to pull off a pass. With the way the bumpers line up these days and the way the race cars drive in traffic, it’s just as hard to move somebody else out of the way as it is to pass. Just trying to have a good race car there – obviously our day got cut really short there in the spring. Not really knowing how the race is going to go and not having great notes to lean on, but our teammates were really strong. So, being able to lean on their notes will be good. But it’s definitely a wild card, for sure.”
YOU’RE STARTING UP FRONT IN THE SECOND ROW NEXT TO WILLIAM (BYRON) AND BEHIND CHASE (ELLIOTT). I KNOW IT’S A LONGER RACE, BUT HOW CRITICAL IS IT TO GET TO THE FRONT TO THAT CLEAN AIR SINCE YOUR CAR IS SUITED TO LONG RUNS?“Yeah, it’s hard to say. We don’t really know if our car is going to be suited to long runs or not until we get there. I feel like each week is a little bit different. The end of some of the long runs at Darlington in May, we were definitely falling off harder than we wanted to be. But we were really fast on the short runs. I think that’s a racetrack that you really just have to race the track. Kind of like I said before, the second race, I got caught up racing somebody else, drove it right into the fence and did a really bad job. So, we just need to race the racetrack and be there at the end. It’s such a long day – it’s a really long 500 miles. Being there at the end with a clean race car is super crucial.”
AS AN ARIZONA BOY, WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU HEARD THE CHAMPIONSHIP WAS GOING TO BE HELD AT PHOENIX AND WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR AT YOUR HOME TRACK?“It would mean the world to me to make the Championship Four and try to win a championship in Arizona. That would be really special. That racetrack has kind of a love-hate relationship with me. Obviously, we’ve had some strong runs there in the past, but the last couple of years have been pretty awful there. We haven’t had a good day there period really since 2016. So, we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’ve improved that program of ours and try to go be stronger there. But I think it’s really cool. It’s a cool atmosphere. The fans there are awesome – the campground there is awesome. I feel like it’s kind of an underrated atmosphere, as far as the racetracks go. Just excited to get there and happy for them to be hosting the final four.”
THERE’S SPECULATION OUT THERE THAT MAYBE YOU’RE A CANDIDATE TO TAKE OVER THE NO. 48 FOR JIMMIE JOHNSON. WONDERING IF YOU’VE HAD THOSE CONVERSATIONS AND THAT SPECULTAION IS ACCURATE?“Man, I don’t know. I have no clue – nobody has talked to me. I’m just here to drive the race car. I’m focused on Darlington and going to Darlington to go try and win. As far as I know, I’m driving the 88 car and that’s what I’m focused on doing.”
IN THIS TIME PERIOD WITH NO PRACTICE AND, OF COURSE, DEALING WITH THE PANDEMIC, HOW HAVE YOU KEPT YOURSELF UPBEAT IN THIS TIME PERIOD? WITH THE PLAYOFFS STARTING AT DARLINGTON, YOU GUYS ARE GOING THERE FOR THE THIRD TIME. WHAT KEY WILL IT TAKE TO GET THAT WIN? I KNOW YOU WERE BATTLING WITH (KEVIN) HARVICK BACK IN MAY.“I think everybody that’s been around me kind of knows that staying upbeat, for me, is a little tough when things aren’t going well. The summer was rough on us, for sure, but good runs for me cures that – running up front and contending for wins. So, just trying to run the best that we can and we’ve had some good runs here lately. When things are going well, it’s pretty easy for me to stay upbeat. We definitely miss the fans and the pandemic has changed a lot of things for us, but it’s pretty awesome that we’re kind of back on schedule with where the season is.”
“Going to Darlington, just being there at the end with a clean race car is going to be crucial to try and win that race. The first race there in May, we really weren’t very happy with our race car and we were still really fast. The second race, we were much better. Had to start in the back and drove to the front way quicker than the other people that started as far back as we did. Just got greedy and hit the wall. So, you can’t be greedy, you’ve got to race the racetrack and be there at the end.”
YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT THE SUMMER MONTHS AND THINGS KIND OF GOT OFF TRACK. WAS IT JUST SOMETHING WHERE THE SPEED JUST DISAPPEARED? WERE YOU GUYS TRYING ANYTHING? HOW WOULD YOU EXPLAIN BASICALLY COMING OUT OF THE GATE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR LIKE GANGBUSTERS AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN, IT JUST SLOWLY STARTED TO GO AWAY? “I think, for us, the tracks we went to, the tire we were on and the weather really affected us more than we anticipated. Our race car was just really unhappy when it got hot and slick through the summer months, and the speed was gone. We went to the racetracks that we thought we were going to go and dominate at – like Homestead, Kansas, places that we thought we would be awesome at, especially with how we started the year at Vegas, Fontana, Charlotte and Darlington. We were terrible, struggled. Kansas, I think we finished eighth or something, but we ran 25th all day and it was all I could do not to crash for the majority of the race – we were so loose. I don’t think we were trying anything. If we were, they didn’t tell me. I wish we were, I wish we could just point it out and be like ‘yeah, we were trying stuff. It’s all good, we’ll be fine’. But we definitely kind of missed it there for two months or so. I’m really thankful that we were able to not lose our heads. The team was able to continue to work together really well, keep a level-head and turn it around. The last couple of weeks have been much better to us. Dover, we got damage the first race. But the second race, we had a really great race car and it was a backup car. So, to be that strong with a backup car was really good. I think we’re pointed in the right direction to start the Playoffs, for sure.”
LAST YEAR, WE SAW YOU WITH A LOT OF POTENTIAL AT THE 1.5-MILE TRACKS. DO YOU THINK THIS WILL BE YOUR STRENGTH ONCE WE GET TO THOSE TRACKS IN THE ROUND OF 12?“Yeah, I feel like as a company, the 1.5-mile tracks have been our strong suit as long as I’ve been driving for HMS. Especially last year, we went on a run there and were really strong at all of the 1.5-mile tracks and this year, we continued to be strong at the intermediate tracks. We were definitely off a little bit through the summer at those racetracks, but I think those are probably our strong suits going into the Playoffs, for sure.”
WE TALKED TO THE FORD AND PENSKE TEAMMATES YESTERDAY. DOES HMS HAVE A POLICY IN HOW THEY’RE GOING TO HANDLE TRACKS LIKE TALLADEGA GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS?“I don’t really think we have a policy. I think we’ve all seen the manufacturers work together over the last couple of years at those racetracks. I feel like Ford kind of did it first and we did a really good job of it with Chevrolet. Now it’s interesting to see how everybody tries to kind of one-up each other with how they can play the race out and work together. You can’t not work together as a team at this point, as well as everybody is working together and as much communication as there is. We’re going to do all that we can to go there and win as a team. We’ve had success at it, obviously William (Byron) just won at Daytona. Just trying to go there and get all of our cars up front. That’s the goal and we’ve got to work together to do that.”
WITH NO QUALIFYING AND HOW NASCAR IS SETTING UP THESE PLAYOFFS WHERE THE TOP-16 IN THE FIRST ROUND GET SET TOGETHER. THAT WAY, IT DOESN’T REALLY MESS YOU UP GOING FORWARD. AND THEN THE CHOOSE RULE, WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS WITH THAT AND AS FAR AS NOT BEING TAKEN OUT BY A NON-PLAYOFF DRIVER LIKE WE’VE SEEN IN THE PAST?“To start with qualifying, I’m all good with the format and the way everything goes. We’re starting pretty close to the front this weekend, so it’s hard for me to complain. I think they have a good way of doing it. The random draw – I started in the same spot like five weeks in a row, four weeks in a row or something. So, it was funny how that all worked out because it was a random draw – it was interesting. I’m a fan of the formula that they’re using. I think it’s working really good.”
“The choose deal, it’s simple when you’re up front. The farther back you get, the harder it gets and the more confusing it gets – trying to count cars gets pretty complicated. It’s really hard to see from the race car. The box is hard to see and it’s hard to count. So, staying on top of that is critical. Making the right decisions in that is critical. My spotter is terrible at math, so I can’t lean on him because he always gets the count wrong (laughs). It’s definitely added a new element to it. Everybody is there to race and win races, so it’s easy to get into it with a non-Playoff guy, but hopefully we avoid that and have a good, clean Playoffs.”
GIVEN THE PLAYOFFS IN THE COVID-19 WORLD THAT WE’RE IN THIS YEAR, YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO BE COMING THE FURTHEST WEST WHEN YOU COME TO LAS VEGAS AND PHOENIX. IS THERE ANY SPECIAL OR ADDITIONAL PRECAUTIONS YOU’RE GOING TO TAKE, GIVEN THE FACT THAT YOU’RE COMING SO FAR WEST?“I don’t know – I’m sure there will be, I just don’t know what they are at the moment. Hendrick Motorsports has done a really good job of laying out things for us and trying to help us, as well as NASCAR. NASCAR has done an awesome job at having recommendations, laying out guidelines for everybody. I would kind of assume that there will be differences. I feel like every week is a little bit different with how regulations are working depending on where we’re going in the country. So, I’m sure it will be a little different, but that’s kind of normal. Each and every week has been different.”