THE MODERATOR: We're joined today from left to right here by Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President, Chevrolet Performance and Motorsports; Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports; and David Wilson, President, TRD. Welcome. We'll open up with a general question for all three of you and then open it up to questions from the media.
Obviously the Next-Gen car has been an incredible undertaking over the past two years. The car has been tested on and off the track, made their competitive debut at the Busch Light Clash and have been running throughout Speedweeks here at Daytona. What are your initial impressions of the Next-Gen car and what are your expectations for this season?
JIM CAMPBELL: Well, there's no doubt that this is a special weekend debut this Next Gen Camaro ZL1 in a points race, so we love that. You said two years; it feels like the discussions went a little bit beyond that. But obviously working two years in earnest just really to get the development done, and it's been a collaboration between NASCAR, Chevrolet, of course the other OEMs, we've been in a lot of the same council meetings together, and our race teams and our engineers to develop the Camaro ZL1.
So we love it. A stronger connection to what we're selling in the showroom, without a doubt, and you know the list of features that connect stronger whether it's the 18-inch forged aluminum wheels, the V-8 with a manual transmission connects what we sell in the showroom, independent rear rack-and-pinion steering, and the rearview camera mirror, which you've seen Chevrolet and our company, we've had a rearview camera mirror for years and years that we use in many of our vehicles and our portfolio. It's great to see things like that that connect stronger to the showroom.
We're learning a lot. A lot of discussion around the supply chain and all that, but the teams are here. They have the cars, and it's going to be great to get out there and run in a full pack of cars, and looking forward to that. Couldn't have done it without our Chevrolet race teams, as well.
MARK RUSHBROOK: Yeah, I would just add to that, a lot of great comments, Jim, thank you. I think it's a real testament to the sport and everybody in the sport, to NASCAR as an organization, to their pushing hard in a lot of different areas to change things in the sport to make things even better than they are, and the Next-Gen car was a big part of it, and just the whole approach of collaboration with us as OEMs, with the teams, with the engine builders, with everybody to bring that car, the right car, we think, to the track and to have it this year, it means a lot.
It was great seeing the cars on the track at the Coliseum, at the Clash two weeks ago, and even better seeing them here at Daytona at speed. Watching the Duels last night was kind of surreal, given the amount of time that we've been working on this and collaboration to see it all come together like that.
Again, a testament to the teams and the engine builders that ultimately are building them and getting them on the track.
I think the other thing that's significant is even beyond the car, just the business model of what that Next-Gen car means and what it's meant to the sport with new teams, new owners. It's changing everything. It's a really fresh new NASCAR, so excited about that.
DAVID WILSON: So somebody just outside asked me what's new, and my answer was "everything." Everything is new.
I don't have a whole lot to add to what Jim and Mark already did. I would like to underscore how impressive the first data point on-track activity for our Next Gen cars were, and that's two weeks ago at the LA Coliseum. I was admittedly skeptical initially when I heard about this, and I asked the question, there has to be a reason why we haven't raced on a quarter-mile track since 1971, and I think the answer was, because we couldn't. But now we can.
I almost would suggest that the racing at the Coliseum was not the main attraction. It certainly wasn't the only attraction. This was about promoting an event, a festival, a party, that featured some pretty cool racing.
I loved the bite-sized format for our fans and for all of those new fans. They got to watch a little racing, listen to a little music, and it was really a bold move.
Kudos to Ben Kennedy and the entire leadership team at NASCAR, to have the courage to do something like that, because one of the things that I'll say as we look now forward, whether it's Sunday and the races beyond, is that we have to temper ourselves as to not -- not to overreact to any single data point, to any single race event, because we are dealing with so many things that are new.
We're going to continue to find issues, challenges with this car, as excited as we are about it, that are probably going to need to be fixed, and that's okay. That's to be expected.
We've really enjoyed this collaboration. The three of us sitting up here, we can really date -- the model that we take to collaboration all the way back to 2013 and the start of the Gen-6 because in the end, we need each of us to be successful, as counterintuitive as that may sound, but we're all here for the exact same reason.
Yeah, I'll leave it at that.
Q. Can you talk some of the old-time fans off the ledge regarding the speeds? They're used to hearing the phrase 200 miles an hour thrown around at this place, and it's not there now. Just shaving 10 miles an hour off the pole speed this year from last year, any concern from you? I'm guessing you're going to say no, and how do you talk anybody who raises that point to you guys, how do you counteract the fact that they feel like they need to see the 2 in front of the speed?
JIM CAMPBELL: I would just say that it's about the racing and the action on the track. I think that's going to be the focus, and these cars are -- the way they've been designed is going to put more in the hands of the driver, and they can make it happen and create a great show on the track, despite the speeds. Over time, our race teams and the teams we compete against will be squeezing every ounce of speed out of that car that we can. In the meantime, it's about the action on the track.
Q. Can all three of you gentlemen please give your impressions of the Duels last night? Mark, I would imagine you're a pretty happy guy this morning, and maybe Dave and Jim not so much, but could you give your impressions of what we saw last night?
MARK RUSHBROOK: Well, I thought it was great racing for sure with the result, but certainly aside from the result. Again, with the new cars out there, when the first duel started and seeing -- I know it was only 22 cars out there, not the full 40 we're going to see, it was just fantastic for the sport, to see the cars out there, to see them racing.
I think what played out last night is there's good parity across the cars. We saw the Chevys being really fast in qualifying and the different practice sessions we've seen different cars, different teams, different OEMs being fast, and we saw good speed, I think, from all the cars last night.
One of the things that we do is we really push our Ford Plus strategy. I think Toyota and Chevy are doing that, as well, but it played out in our favor last night. We got our cars together, and I think the crew chiefs made the right calls and ended up really well for us. But a great day for the sport with the cars out there.
DAVID WILSON: I was sitting in our engineering coach for the first duel, and the first thing that struck me is the noise. For only 20, 22 cars, you could hear them. They sound great. I think for the fans, and again, this issue of speed, we all know our sport is so visceral, and it's the sounds, as well, and it's the smells, and we haven't lost any of that.
I thought the racing was interesting. It wasn't the typical pack racing that we've been used to, to be fair. The pack doesn't seem to hold on through practice, through the Duels. One of the things that we've learned is if you've got five together or six together, it's seemingly harder for that last car to hold on to the back. I think it's going to be very interesting to see how it plays out on Sunday.
On the surface, I don't envision 40 cars lined up three by three heading to the finish line. I just don't think that's going to happen. I think we're going to -- there's the potential for more cars to go a lap down or two, but strategy, communication, teamwork are going to be absolutely critical in whomever wins that race on Sunday afternoon.
JIM CAMPBELL: Yeah, I think Dave captured it; we've noticed the same thing. You get four or five, that last car you have to do everything you can to hang on, and then the discussion is do we have the fourth car hold back a bit and try to drag them back up.
It's going to come down to, first of all, 40 cars on the track is going to create a bit of a different dynamic than last night for sure, and then from our standpoint, we've got to work together. We've had moments in the past we've worked well together and other moments we haven't. We've got to work together and in combination of working together to get the most speed out of the cars as a group, and then the strategy calls on pit stops and when we come and what we do when we get in there.
But it was great to see the cars on the track, and you know what, two things struck me. One, look up at the stands, and the stands were -- there were a lot of people there last night. That was great. And obviously for the reasons we know, the last couple years it hasn't been that way. We were also here a few weeks ago for the 24 Hours of Daytona, and I noticed the same thing. There were a lot of people there in the stands for the 24-hour race.
It tells me people are eager to get back to the track. They're energized to see the new cars, see the action on the track, and it was clear that people were energized for that, so it was a great night but clearly the race is going to be a bit of a different dynamic, and I think we all have our work cut out for us.
Q. Jim, two things. Can you give us a status update on the technical center in Concord and where that's at?
JIM CAMPBELL: Yeah, we've been talking about that for a while. We had put it on pause when the pandemic hit, and then we reactivated it. We're almost done. We'll have the keys to the technical center ready to go we'll call it April 1st and it may be a week or so before that, but April 1st is when it's going to be open. 134,000 square feet. We'll be able to -- we've already staffed up. Many, many people, some of which are engineers from our own organization, some are from the teams that are now in our central organization working for Dr. Eric Warren, and Dr. Eric Warren is here. He's with the teams in the garage and getting ready for the action on the track here today.
Super excited about that, and it's going to be a place where we can really deliver the tools and the technologies to help the teams get the performance to win races and go for those championships.
We can't wait to open it up. We'll have a lot of tools in there around simulation, we'll have command centers, we'll have all the testing regs that we need, aero department, drive line, dyno kind of activity and access inside our whole system. We're looking forward to it. It's been a while, and can't wait to open the doors.
Q. You mentioned simulation. I wanted to ask, will a building like this help some of your teams that don't normally get sim time? Will this give more space or more opportunity to do that?
JIM CAMPBELL: Yeah, absolutely, there's no doubt. Listen, we all know the value of simulation, and Chevy has many teams through the Truck, Xfinity and Cup Series, and so that will give the teams more access that don't really have it maybe today.
We'll have multiple dynamic driving loop simulators, and then we'll have a whole number of static simulators. It's really the same hardware, it's just not dynamic, so we're really correlating those two tools to what we see on the track.
Obviously that's part of the reason to put the tech center in there is to give access to the teams that need it and help all the teams deliver on the performance on the track that they need.
Q. Mark, I know yesterday was just one day, but RFK had a nice day yesterday and they hadn't won in a long time. Brad even said he saw Edsel in Victory Lane and said, What are you doing here on a Thursday?
I'm just curious, it has only been a short time, but what differences have you seen with Brad over there?
MARK RUSHBROOK: Well, it's a whole new team. It's a whole new shop. It's been reenergized in many ways. That team has been working so hard for so long. They had success for so long, and have certainly had some hard years. A lot of great people there already that continue, but just the revitalization that it brings to it, and they have been working even harder these last few months in the off-season.
To see the smiles last night, not just with Jack Roush in Victory Lane and Edsel Ford there with them, as well, but Brad, the leadership team, but all the crew. They've got a lot of work to keep going still because they want to win on Sunday, they want to win through the rest of the season. But that was a good proof point for them that they can do it. They brought great cars, they had great strategy, great driving. They've got a great shot on Sunday, and I think they'll be a good force this season. It's great to see.
Q. Mark, curious, you guys are the only manufacturer that saw cars get damaged last night. Obviously Joey Logano is going to have to go to a backup car and the 21 was able to fix their nose, but the parts supply heading into this week, how from a manufacturer's standpoint have you viewed this transition, especially now that things are so limited heading into the Daytona 500?
MARK RUSHBROOK: Yeah, I think it's been hard for all of our teams across all three manufacturers. It's a big change for the sport, to go from cars that they knew so well and rooms and shelves full of parts that they knew and almost an endless supply of those parts, and the freedom to go -- if you lost a car in the Duels or the 500, you don't worry about it, you've got enough cars back in the shop.
But all of the new suppliers coming in and new parts coming in, I think everybody is seeing it, there are certainly limited parts out there. Everybody is being smart, strategic. I don't think everybody was racing as hard as they normally would in the Duels last night and still put on a great race, but people will for sure race hard in the 500, and just need to be smart about their parts, their cars and being ready for the West Coast Swing.
Q. I know you feel good after last night and the performance in the Duels. At your team meeting that you have before the 500, is there anything that you can do when a car loses the draft to try and help them out, get them back up to join the pack? I know Kevin Harvick last night was a little frustrated that things didn't work out well for him.
MARK RUSHBROOK: Yeah, I think as we've talked, the cars draft differently than the Gen-6 car did. Even with the Gen-6 car you would sometimes need to fan out, and certainly with these cars you need to fan out and allow that fifth car or sixth car to try to hang on fall off end of their race. Chase Briscoe fell off last night and he went back, but luckily he was able to get with another group and get back up with the other Fords, and he ended up in the -- I think it was third or fourth last night.
Just falling off doesn't mean it's the end of your race or whatever that run is. There's still that opportunity to come back.
Q. Just curious, now that we have the new car here, I know you guys are still responsible for the engines, but across the board, what is the manufacturer actually putting on the car these days? What from the manufacturers other than the engines at this point with the Next-Gen car, what is coming from the factory on the car these days?
DAVID WILSON: Yeah, so one, I think Jim hit on simulation. Certainly with the new car simulation, driving the loop simulation, that tool will remain as critical, if not more critical than ever before.
But honestly, I think we're all in a very fluid state right now trying to understand where within the margins that we have to develop we can, and what the sensitivity levels are.
Everybody is kind of in that same boat together, so we're all working very hard and trying to find the difference makers and the differentiators.
Clearly outside of our direct realm but indirectly, the drivers are going to, again, be even more important to that equation. There's no doubt. The crew members and the pit crew and some of that, can't wait to see that on Sunday because that is going to continue to be an important part of our sport.
But a lot of the other things we're all trying to figure out, as well. NASCAR on their end are also looking at making sure that they keep us within the lines, and anytime you have a lot of change, there's a lot of opportunity for teams to take advantage because there's so much going on.
I feel for NASCAR. They've got their hands full in keeping all of this in check. But that's just the process. This next season -- I used to say, by race four or five, you could kind of get a feel for where you were. I think we're going to need until mid-season to really sort out before we can make any broad conclusions about performance and advantage.
Q. How important was it to the Ford camp to get Roush Fenway going back in a direction after having plateaued for so long, for the overall health of Ford Racing?
MARK RUSHBROOK: Yeah, we're a family company. We have Edsel Ford sitting right here, and that's how we operate as a company inside our walls at Dearborn, and that's how we go racing.
We don't just pick one strong team and focus on them and only them. We approach it with we call it Ford Plus now. We have them work together sharing, and to have Roush Fenway or RFK now strong was an important part of contributing to what we have with Wood Brothers, Penske, Stewart-Haas, and even leveraging our other teams with alliances with Front Row and Rick Ware Racing and Live Fast. It's a family effort. Everybody knows their role and how they fit into it and what they're able to share and how it betters everybody.
Q. Len Wood the other night was telling me these aren't stock passenger car parts, but he says, this is the closest this sport has been to stock car racing in 50 years because the parts are stock, they're interchangeable. How do you feel about that? In a lot of ways it kind of brings the sport a little bit back to its stock car roots, even though they're really not passenger car parts.
JIM CAMPBELL: Yeah, kind of what I said, I listed off all the parts that we also have in our Camaro and our other production vehicles. To me it's getting the parts related to the technology that we design and build and sell in our vehicles today in the showroom. Like that's important. It's important for us, and that's why the debut here this weekend and obviously at the Clash prior was a big deal.
If you look at the technology we had previous to this, it was fairly old technology, so that's what I like about this formula is these technologies that we have in the vehicle, the parts are related to what we do in the showroom today. For me that's a positive.
The other thing is Mark mentioned it, the business model has shifted. You have so many new team owners coming in, and Mark talked about it and certainly David acknowledged the difference in the business model, but we've got in addition to our key partners that have been longtime partners, Hendrick, Childress, now Trackhouse, obviously a newer team but key partner, JTG Daugherty has been with us, Petty and GMS, kind of a new entity obviously with Richard still there, and Maury being there and then Kaulig and Spire, this is great to see kind of newer teams coming into the sport. I don't know that that would have happened two, three, four years ago, so I'm excited about that for sure.
As Mark said and David, the car is in the hands of the drivers here. There's more drive -- the drivers have an opportunity to really make even a bigger difference, I believe, and I like our driver lineup at Chevy, young group, aggressive, and looking forward to the season with them.
MARK RUSHBROOK: The comment I would make it it's not just the parts or the exact parts, it's the architecture which is common and shared between the race car and our road car, and then beyond those, that physically it's the engineering processes that we use, so in developing the new body, using our computational fluid dynamic tools, the wind tunnel, the simulation tools, the engine analytical tools. All of those tools that we're using in racing are the same tools that we use for our road cars, and even our electric road cars, so our tech center in North Carolina, the simulator has also been used for our new Mustang Mach-E, so things people wouldn't see necessarily any connection between a NASCAR Cup car and a Mustang Mach-E full electric car, there is. We've used that same simulator to go racing and to develop that road car, same CFD tools, same aero resources with the wind tunnel and everything, so there's a lot of connection, and it's really important for us.
Q. Going off what was asked earlier about the lack of parts and pieces and the car count, what are your best estimates for when this situation will be behind you? When will you be -- when do you think you'll be on solid ground when it comes to cars and parts and pieces?
DAVID WILSON: So I asked Denny Hamlin that question about an hour ago, and he said Phoenix. The fall Phoenix. Somewhat sarcastically, no doubt, but for the next few weeks, it's going to be tough on all of our teams. We're going to have to be mindful and make good decisions.
What we can't do is ask a driver once he pulls that visor down and gets ready to race in anger, to mitigate his performance based upon a concern about parts. That's not racing, and we're in the racing business.
We've got some exposure Sunday because of the nature of the Daytona 500, but we're all in this together, and we're all doing the best we can. We know NASCAR and their supplier base are on it 24/7.
MARK RUSHBROOK: Just adding to that, I think it depends a lot on the parts. There are certain parts of the cars that are coming through with parts and quantities okay, but parts where we know it's going to be a while, and it depends on how many accidents are there out there, right; when is the big one on Sunday, how bad is it, what happens on the West Coast. It'll be here for a little bit, but there's a lot of attention, a lot of hard work. We'll keep working on it.
Q. Looking forward to the Coke 600, between now and then, what are some performance benchmarks that you guys will be monitoring that maybe the general public will be thinking about or concerned about on a week-to-week basis?
MARK RUSHBROOK: Performance benchmarks of how we're doing as an OEM? Every time we go on track is a benchmark. We learn something -- any new car you have, whether what we're doing here in the sport or anytime any of us have developed a race car or a road car, every time you put something on the road or on the track you learn something, absolutely.
We're learning it every practice sessions here, at the Duels last night. We'll learn more through the weekend and same as we go forward. There's so much to learn. We're going to learn something for a while.
DAVID WILSON: If you consider that we've been developing this car for, again, the better part of two years, we have very, very few laps relatively speaking. We have very little data relatively speaking. So every time we show up at a racetrack, the database, the knowledge base is going to expand exponentially, and that's going to continue on through the season.
To my earlier comment, undoubtedly we are going to, with more data points, with more reps, we are going to learn more. We are going to have more accidents. We're going to see how this car responds to situations it's never been in before. We're going to evaluate the durability of the subsystems and such that just don't have the reps on it.
Again, we're going to have to be a little patient and be mindful that we could be, as I've been saying, working on the airplane while we've been flying it for a little while, and that's just the nature of the beast.
JIM CAMPBELL: I would just add, a tremendous amount of data we'll be collecting and then we'll be correlating the simulation we have to what actually happens on the track and really trying to fine tune the simulation so that it's more accurate every race.
With limited testing, you do have to lean on simulation more and more, so to David's point, we're going to collect a lot of data that we haven't had a ton on track, so that will be a big part, and then correlate it.
Q. For each of you, what is your activation footprint outside the track compared to 2020? Are you back to pre-pandemic marketing strength?
JIM CAMPBELL: Yeah, we have obviously have been one of the founding partners here at Daytona, so we have a big footprint. We have activated in previous years but obviously different scales. We're full out on activation; huge midway display with our cars, trucks, crossovers, all of our technologies and our product specialists with the injector is full of new cars and a huge accessory display. We're hosting in the Chevrolet Experience Center where you see the FOX booth there, we have a lot of Chevrolets in our display area, and then we're hosting different places on the track customers, dealers, partners in our business in like multiple locations. We are full out, and I see Todd Christensen is here, Alyssa, a bunch of our team members in there responsible for that activation.
For us, racing on the track is certainly -- you want to win races because it elevates the brand and good things happen, people put you on their shopping list more quickly, but clearly having the ability to show people what's new about Chevrolet and create a lead that will eventually -- we'll work to see if we can't sell somebody a car, truck, part or accessory, and that's what we do. We're full out.
MARK RUSHBROOK: Yeah, I would say we're similar but a little bit less and very different. We don't activate at every race through the entire season, but we have shifted. As a company we've changed over these last two years during COVID, and different markets are important to us, and we've got different products with our Mustang Mach-E full electric, our F150 full electric. That's all we showed at the Clash at the Coliseum was full electric vehicles. In that market that was very important for us.
I'd say we're more different because of this, because of the pandemic but also how we've changed as a company.
DAVID WILSON: I say all the time that winning is certainly part of what I'm charged with doing, but as a manufacturer it's not enough just to win. If you aren't equipped to leverage that success and engage our fan base and educate our fan base and introduce them to our company, which we do with at-track activations and our engagements, then we're leaving something on the table.
Honestly I'm as proud of what Toyota does off the track as what we do on the track. We're pretty much back full speed on our engagement activities as we hit the race season.
Q. I remember two years ago talking to each one of you guys about what y'all expected the biggest challenges were, and it was different for each one of y'all. Now that we're two years down the road and we've got cars on the track, what were the biggest challenges that y'all actually faced? What were the biggest hills to overcome in getting this car to the track, not counting COVID, because nobody expected that two years ago.
JIM CAMPBELL: We were trying to win a race, I think, two years ago. Listen, we're all automobile manufacturers. What we do is we design, engineer and build vehicles, and while we're selling a vehicle that's in the showroom, we're doing the next round, design, build, and then prepare to sell.
It's always a balancing act on resources in what you apply to the current race effort and then what you're doing to prepare the next vehicle, but as a company this is what we do every day. It's just balancing the resources, making sure the resources are in the right places is always a key, and you can't underplay the resources, especially on the new vehicle, and so I think that was -- I suspect that two years ago that was on my mind, and it's on my mind always, are we applying the resources to the right level as we're racing and then also preparing for what's next.
MARK RUSHBROOK: I don't remember what I said two years ago, but I would say that the biggest challenge with any new car is the unknowns, and I think maybe there were more unknowns with this car than we expected. It's just the nature of I think the way the car was developed and designed with a lot of collaboration across a lot more parties than normally if it's Ford controlling it all by ourselves.
That doesn't make it bad, it just makes it more of a challenge with those changes coming in that we then had to react to maybe some things that we didn't expect.
Overall I think it was good communication from NASCAR and the industry on what those changes were but then we would just have to react to them and perhaps change some of our design or our approach with simulation.
DAVID WILSON: So I think two years ago I said supply chain management, and today my answer is supply chain management. The three of us are in the supply chain management businesses as a part of our day jobs, and NASCAR is now in the supply chain management business. That's kind of a second-, third-tier issue as we get this car rolling. There's a lot to learn, I think, for the industry around that issue and the risks and how do you mitigate those risks.
No longer, again, as Mark alluded to, where you have a problem at the racetrack and you just throw a bunch of guys in the fab shop and presto, bingo, bongo, they whip out a new upright and you're good to go. Those days are over.
So that's one of, I think, the ongoing challenges I think we'll be faced with.
Q. The second question is have you seen Joey's car, and what is your takeaway from the damage or how did it hold up to what you expected?
MARK RUSHBROOK: I think it actually held up well but it was still beyond the point of obviously being able to race. I think there were a lot of eyeballs on it, a lot of people coming into the garage even beyond the Penske team. But it's probably good for the sport for everybody to see that and learn what's going to happen with these cars.
Yeah, obviously damaged enough for the backup car.
Q. I remember years ago, I don't know why the flashback to this, but we were talking about 16 year olds not wanting to get drivers' licenses and the love for the car and how it was so important and the happiness of people wanting to get that car, and you're sort of seeing that now. You're seeing a lot of happiness, you're seeing a lot of interest in the car, not just in racing but it seems like people are really enjoying it and the sound of the car, et cetera. How important is that to you, and what are you seeing on that side from the manufacturers that maybe we didn't see years ago when we were talking about 16-year-old kids wanting to go out and drive a car and get their license early?
JIM CAMPBELL: Certainly it has changed a bit. People do want to drive. The timing of when they go get their license has adjusted. It has. In some ways to get a license the steps you have to take used to be very natural in your school, and now you've got to take other steps. I think that's part of it.
The other thing is I think that there are alternatives to freedom, if you will, which is social media and ways for people to engage in ways that give them kind of a perception of freedom. But in the end we're seeing people, they still love cars, they're just getting their licenses a little bit later is what we're seeing, and that's okay. As long as they're in the market, and what we're seeing as we interface with younger potential customers, the technology that we're bringing they seem to be really interested in. Okay, what's new? The technologies.
I think that's an area that we focus on as a way to kind of start a dialogue and then let them discover more about what we offer at Chevrolet and our other divisions.
Q. Are you seeing things like the camera on the rear-view mirror, the backup camera, all the stuff that you're seeing, are you seeing reaction to that? Is that kind of a happy crowd right now?
JIM CAMPBELL: Well, a couple things. I do think the list of things that I talked about that are in the cars that we sell in the showroom that are in now this car, people are discovering what that is, but it's still new. The rearview camera, we've been using it at our company for years and years, but not everybody knows about it. It's kind of interesting that you don't use a regular rearview mirror, you use a camera. Those are some of the elements.
The other thing I do think is these young drivers, right, it happens, there's a cycle to it as young drivers come into the sport, I think they grab the attention of young potential fans, whether you're talking about a 22-year-old Justin Haley or a Chase Elliott or -- I think there's something to that, as well. We cycle in this sport, right, the veterans start to retire and the young drivers are coming up. I think that's a great thing, and I think that's helping, too.
MARK RUSHBROOK: I think just as a sport, not just the new car, which is I think getting a lot of attention from a lot of people and younger people, the format and the market at the LA Coliseum was a huge success. I think the numbers were 70 percent first-time NASCAR race attendees, which is fantastic, and then also as Jim mentioned the lineup, our driver lineup, so Hailie Deegan has been fantastic for us in helping us to connect with new fans, customers, younger, and to allow them to see our company and our story, and to see the fans come up to her at the track is fantastic.
DAVID WILSON: So Toyota and our leadership team, starting with Akio Toyoda, have been very mindful about the evolution of mobility and cars. Akio is a master driver himself. The GR86, which was released not too long ago, was actually held back because Akio wasn't satisfied in its driving characteristics on a racetrack.
From the top down, we put a lot of focus into making sure our product that we sell in the showrooms is fun and it's fun to drive. Obviously part of what we're doing here at the racetrack is connecting that message and bringing younger people to the racetrack.
Jim and Mark talked about the technology and the evolution of our technologies and how important that is, because that's relevancy, and that's something that we've been lacking in our sport. We kind of turned that on its head. We've got a lot to talk about now and a lot to learn about this new car, and that'll -- we've got plenty to talk about over the next several years hopefully.
Q. Real quick because something that you said about young people wanting to have things be fun to drive, then is the difference, too, also that the drivers seem to be having fun driving these cars and that that will make a big difference in what you're talking about, that the drivers of NASCAR seem to be having more fun with the car?
DAVID WILSON: Well, it's always going to be about the drivers. This is a drivers' sport, and that's why we love it. When we were here a few weeks ago for the Rolex, it was kind of the -- it's a sport about the cars. But we're in a drivers' sport, and that's awful important that our ambassadors are genuine and reflect a natural enthusiasm, and it's always fun to watch the changing of the guard that happens every year. It's just part of the circle of life.
I think we're all excited about our young drivers and their enthusiasm and the fun it's going to bring to the garage.
THE MODERATOR: Jim, Mark, David, thank you for your time. Best of luck this season. Best of luck this weekend.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports