THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with William, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. We'll open it up for questions.
Q. William, do you feel like you have enough in your car this weekend to contend for the championship tomorrow?
WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I do. It sucks just didn't quite get the second lap I wanted to there in the second round, so bummed about that, but I feel really good about our race car. Get first pit pick, which is huge. So excited for all those things.
Just, yeah, trying to put together a good start to the race, but really it's such a long race. It's just going to be about trying to get to the finish and have what you need there.
Q. How much does it matter having two non playoff drivers in the front row to start things off like this?
WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I don't think it really matters. I think it's a race just like any other week. You're going to have to deal with those things.
So, yeah, I don't put too much focus on that really. Just trying to get the most out of my car and try to, yeah, just get the most out of the day.
Q. How much does the first pit stall assuming you're picking the first pit stall with the No. 1 pick, how much does it matter?
WILLIAM BYRON: We'll see. The rules have changed a little bit on the lines, so we'll see. I think I just have to do a good job throughout the day rolling time, and I have the best pit crew out there. So it's going to be a good advantage for us just doing our jobs. The pit stall hopefully is clean for us and just work from there, so yeah.
Q. Did you watch the truck race last night at all? They penalized 100 people it seemed like for not starting in the or changing lanes before start/finish line. Will that impact anything that you do or were planning to do tomorrow?
WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah. I think it was a little bit different than it's been in the past. So just in the way that the restarts were going and the available space on the bottom.
Yeah, I'll just adjust as needed, but yeah, I feel like I've understood the way it is for a while, so I don't really worry about it too much.
Q. Just speed wise alone, where do you think you guys are at this weekend?
WILLIAM BYRON: I think we're plenty capable. I feel like we had some things to improve after practice, and I feel like we did those things. So big credit to everyone not only on our team, but back at the shop and Hendrick as a whole.
I feel good about it. I feel like we're in a ball game. So just have to put together a good first couple of stages, try to get towards the front, and then go from there.
Q. Nerves wise, is this just a normal weekend to you? Are you unfazed?
WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, qualifying is probably the biggest nerves I think just trying to get through those laps and put good laps together. But, yeah, once I get in the car, I feel like my nerves are pretty normal. Yeah, I get nervous just like everybody else, but I feel like I'm able to manage it pretty well.
THE MODERATOR: William, we appreciate you spending time with us. Best of luck tomorrow.
We've been joined by Tyler Reddick. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. We'll go ahead and open questions for Tyler.
Q. Tyler, how was the car in practice yesterday, and how much do you feel like you guys were able to adjust to get yourselves a top 10 starting spot for tomorrow?
TYLER REDDICK: I think the two are different, to be honest. Qualifying is something we've been able to do a pretty good job of here. Round one obviously we barely got in. We did just enough there.
Yeah, that second round I wasn't really expecting it to lose that much lap time from round one. When you're the first car out there, you're kind of going off of what you think you need to do. The last thing I would have thought is it would have slowed down that much across the board.
Definitely wish I could have had that one back, but it was still really close between me and William. We'll take it. We'll have second best pit stall selection. So looking at how yesterday ended to at least get to that point coming into this was what we needed to do from that front.
Yeah, we're right there with William, and Joey is a little bit further ahead obviously, but we had a pretty solid day out of this pit selection. For us trying to get the best pit stall was the No. 1 priority, and we still did a good job of that.
Q. How would you characterize practice yesterday? Obviously the numbers don't make it look all that great, but I'm curious, did it not feel all that great, or did it feel better?
TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I think we went the wrong way. We were able to understand it and learn from it. You never want to go through a practice and have it go that way, but we understood why we got where we did and why the speed kind of went away.
Obviously we think we made the right choices going into Sunday for that, but obviously we have to wait and see how the race goes.
Q. I'm just curious, out of all four drivers you seem the most subdued, but Billy Scott said yesterday around the guys you're a little bit lighter, a little bit more fun. I'm wondering, what are you feeling? What's your mood because to us you're the quietest of the four right now.
TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of racing left to be had, right? Today was an important step in that. Obviously we wanted to out qualify the 24 to get the best pit stall. Arguably who knows if one is as big of an advantage as it is in years past with the camera moving, but yeah, just trying to stay focused on all that.
And, too, obviously I was hoping I was going to hang on and beat the 24. So, I mean, there's just a little bit of that. Yeah, we have the rest of the day today to kind of unwind and recenter and get ready to go for Sunday.
Q. Do you feel okay?
TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, yeah.
Q. Tyler, Denny was in here earlier, and he described you yesterday as feeling pretty tense after practice. Is that an accurate assessment? Do you feel different after qualifying now today?
TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, you never want practice to go that way, but again, I think qualifying has been one of our strengths. So, yeah, 10th isn't great for us.
When you look at the year, I feel like we'll make it to round two. We normally do better than that. It went a little bit different than what we were expecting, and that normally doesn't happen to us.
We'll take it, but I think there were things and moments in practice where our car was doing what we wanted it to do just across the board. Yeah, the speed the fire off speed really wasn't there, but we know what we need to work on, and we've been talking about it and coming up with a plan for Sunday. I think we know what we need to work on, and going into the race I have a good sense of direction of what I need to be focused on and what we as a team need to keep up with the race car.
Q. Just mentally what's this week been like for you as this is your first time going through this process, and it's been busy? You did media Tuesday, Thursday. Obviously come out west, just what has this week been like mentally?
TYLER REDDICK: Not bad. It's kind of been flying by, honestly. Just trying to enjoy this moment. It takes a year's worth of hard work to get here, so just trying to enjoy it as much as possible. There's a lot of things you can be focused on, as you should be.
We work all year long to be our best and try to win a championship on Sunday. So we're trying to stay focused. I think given how practice went, I think we handled that well. Qualifying we knew was going to be tough. Round two didn't go great, but yeah, I think it's going well.
I'm certainly enjoying it. Yeah, it feels like I just got here yesterday, and I flew out here Wednesday night, so just time flies.
THE MODERATOR: Tyler, thank you for spending some time with us. Best of luck tomorrow.
We have now been joined by Ryan Blaney, reigning 2003 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. We'll go ahead and open it up for questions for Ryan.
Q. During media day you had said that one thing that you remembered from the finale last year was that you wished you weren't in as much of a hurry starting 15th. You're starting 17th tomorrow. What's your kind of approach being the deepest of the Championship 4 drivers tomorrow?
RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I'll be able to put that to the test what I was talking about on media day because I'm starting about the same spot.
Yeah, I don't know. The approach our lap didn't go well. I got free into one and kind of ruined it all. Couldn't really make it back up. I was surprised honestly it ran what it did for how loose I got.
I think our car is pretty good. Still nice to have a decent pit stall and things like that. So, yeah, just kind of take it how we can get it tomorrow and kind of work through the first handful of laps and try to start marching forward.
Yeah, it's pretty similar to last year. Hopefully it ends the same, and we can charge through the field. I think our race car was good enough to where hopefully we can make that happen.
Q. I think back to practice last year your single lap speed wasn't great last year, but you had good long run speed. Yesterday quickest lap in practice. Plus it seemed like you guys had, again, decent long run speed. Does the car feel does the weekend so far feel any better, different, worse than it did a year ago?
RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I mean, practice yesterday, actually, like you said, we were quickest in practice. It fired off with a good lap on my second set of tires. It took three or four laps to run my best lap, but that was nice.
It was like, Okay, we have a little bit of the short run speed. An area that we've seem to struggle a little bit is the short run, and our strength has been the long run.
I thought I had a bit of both yesterday in practice, so that's encouraging. Would I have liked to qualify a little better? Yeah, obviously, but I feel pretty decent about where the balance of our car was yesterday and try to adjust for tomorrow with the sun completely out and the temperature changed a little bit.
I feel like our car was fairly well balanced, so that's a good thing.
Q. We heard on Joey's radio yesterday that he felt like maybe the Chevys were taking away some lines for you to be able to get a good lap. Did you have any similar issues, and if so, did it impact today?
RYAN BLANEY: No, I didn't have any. Didn't really impact today. I just missed turn one.
Q. Did you watch the truck race at all?
RYAN BLANEY: Yeah.
Q. They called a ton of getting out of line on the restarts. How much do you think that impacts what you guys will do Sunday?
RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I mean, this is the toughest place for that. It's the most inviting to kind of go down there, and you always are kind of antsy on getting down to the apron.
Yeah, the truck last night that I saw it was kind of a weird situation with the 11 in the third row and the front two rows kind of straightened out. Like they didn't shade left like I think he thought they were going to shade left, so that just kind of I think mistimed him.
So, yeah, it's a tough one, especially when you have an idea of what you think the guy in front of you or the rows in front of you are going to do, and they kind of can do something different. You kind of get caught with your pants down a little bit.
It's something that NASCAR is obviously going to enforce, and you have to be careful about it. Especially if you are right up someone's bumper, and you can't really see to the left of them or anything. Yeah, it's something you have to be really careful of.
Q. (Off microphone.)
RYAN BLANEY: You're all over the manufacturer train, man. I guess so.
Q. Also in the truck race last night some of the competitors talking about how slick the pit stalls were. Is that an issue you've had here? What are the pit stalls like for you guys?
RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I noticed that. The first stop they were talking about it, and then they had a couple of really good camera shots from behind the pit wall of a couple of those guys leaving their stalls, and it was really slick. They were just in place spinning tires.
I was, like, Man, I don't remember them being super slick out here. It's never jumped out to me watching the event like that. So, yeah, I don't know what causes that.
So, yeah, it's something that we kind of it's good to pay attention to that stuff just because you know your first run at your box is going to be the first stop of the race.
You don't want to blow through your stall, and it's also nice to kind of understand, hey, if it's super slick leaving, you kind of leave maybe a little bit differently than you normally would at a place that has more grip.
It did seem a little bit slicker last night than what it has in the past, but I don't know why it would be that way.
Q. Since the statute of limitations have passed going back to last year's race, being the first time the Championship 4, how nervous were you, or what was it like the night before? Now you can be honest as opposed to...
RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I would say I was a little bit nervous the night before for sure. Just wanting to do well obviously. I think that was just the biggest reason I was nervous is you want to take the full opportunity that you are given.
Yeah, I was a little bit nervous, but I've always said being nervous isn't a bad thing. It means you care. It means you care about what you are doing, and you have an opportunity to do something really neat.
That is a good thing, right? So it's okay to be a little bit nervous, but when race day came, I feel like everybody even leading up like the whole morning of, you feel a little bit of butterflies, but once you get strapped in the car and your safe space in there and you are ready to do what you are most comfortable doing, which is racing, that kind of goes away.
But, yeah, the night before it was a little bit nerve wracking, but not too bad. I didn't lose any sleep, that's for sure. Yeah, it was a little butterflies the night before.
THE MODERATOR: Ryan, thank you so much for your time. Best of luck tomorrow.
Joey Logano. Questions for Joey Logano.
Q. How are you feeling? You've had a pretty decent weekend. You've had a decent playoffs in that you've won in all these rounds. You feel like this is yours for the taking?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah. Yeah, I do. I feel like our car is strong. I think we did a good job in qualifying. We got them down now. We just have to put our foot on their throats. We feel pretty strong about our team, and these type of pressure situations we feel really solid about as far as our team in these moments.
So, yeah, we're just executing our plan. We've had two weeks to put the plan together. We're executing it the best we can now.
Q. Did you say, We're just going to put our foot on their throats?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, that's what we have to do, right? We have them where we want them right now. We just have to keep them there.
Q. What about this weekend feels similar or different to the last time you were here in '22 with a chance to win the championship?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I feel like things feel fairly similar to last time except Truex beat me for the pole (laughing). That would be the difference right now.
I feel like our car yesterday was pretty solid on our practice runs. Qualifying is always an unknown these days. Not many guys make mock runs anymore. Yeah, it seems like it's going as planned right now, so we'll see.
Q. Did you have an issue with Chevrolets yesterday?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, they've obviously done some things throughout practice. It's pretty apparent of what went on last week, and it seems to be continuing at the moment. Yeah, we just continue our plan.
Q. What is the challenge when you don't get to pick your pit stall?
JOEY LOGANO: I'm going to find out here in a minute. I don't know what pit stall we're in. You probably know.
Q. (Off microphone).
JOEY LOGANO: Usually I find out from you, so... (laughing). So I don't know. Hopefully the one they assign us is a good one. It's out of our hands at this point, so I don't know what they're doing. I'm in here with you guys, so I have no idea.
Q. When you see the other three championship cars go through tech with relatively no issues and yours takes three times, are you getting nervous, like this is going down a road that we're worried about, or is it we're trying to get everything we can and just business as usual?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, business as usual. There's nothing I can do about it, right? I have to focus on my job. That's out of my hands what goes on with that stuff.
So obviously when it comes down to this, everyone is pushing and trying on get as much as they can. We thought we fixed it enough the first time, and we didn't. Then you have to fix it even more so to really make sure you make it through.
So just pushing the edge and just didn't quite get by with what where he thought was okay, but obviously it was too far.
Q. With the comment, "foot on the throat," that's maybe not a comment you always hear competitors say in many sports leading into a championship. How have you felt comfortable enough to where you are comfortable expressing yourself and in that way in this form and fashion?
JOEY LOGANO: I feel like I've said it to you guys all week that I feel like we've had the upper hand, right? Now I feel like it's coming to life a little bit more so than just talking about it seeing what just happened there.
Yeah, I feel like we're in a great spot. Obviously a lot of things can happen from here, but when you look at what we just accomplished today and getting a solid starting spot, that's something that we should be proud of and also it's exactly what we were trying to do.
So, yeah, we feel confident. This race team has been doing this for a long, long time. What did I say to you guys? We are old men of the death. That's what we are (laughing). We've all been doing this a long, long time. This group has been a group that's been together for a long time, even before I was driving this one.
So they understand each other really well. They work really well together. Our pit crew is in a similar boat. All but one of them has really been doing this for a long, long time. We feel solid about where we're at. When you prepare for what's coming your way, it's easy to feel confident.
Q. (Off microphone).
JOEY LOGANO: Well, I know, but in comparison to who I'm racing against it's a lot more years under the belt (laughing).
Q. He's in the room. We're talking about Martin Truex. We've been asking other drivers about what it's been like to race against him? Allegedly this is his last full time ride here at Phoenix. You've run with him a long time, and he is in the room. What's it been like?
JOEY LOGANO: (Indiscernible) something good, is that what you're saying?
Q. You can stay whatever you want to say. He just stole the pole from you. Listen, you can say whatever you want to say, but it's been overwhelming. I'm not going to say what most of the drivers have said, but what's it been like to run against Martin Truex?
JOEY LOGANO: Martin and I have raced each other for a while. Just like probably anyone that's raced each other for a long time, we didn't see eye to eye on everything, but I think at the same time we've always raced each other I feel like in a fair way. He may say something different, but I feel like we've shown respect to each other.
I think getting to know Martin away from the racetrack is something that I think is cooler than racing against somebody. We've taken the time to fly together a lot here recently with a friend of ours, and we all jump on the plane together, and there's a lot of games of rummy and good times. Usually on the way home it's more fun than on the way here.
It's been fun getting to know him. Obviously what he's done with his foundation, the amount of kids that have been impacted, that's to me a true measure of success in life. It's not what you do on the racetrack. It's a true judgment of character is what you do to give back.
I think when it comes to drivers' foundations, there's not many, if any, that have done it better than how Martin has done it. You know, we've seen Catwalk for a Cause. That's one piece of this. That's probably the public side that we all see, but no one ever sees the dirty work, right, everything that goes on behind the scenes to not just make that event happen, but all the other things, those impacts that we don't see every single day.
So I'm really grateful to be a part of that for as many years as I've at least gotten to go to that and gotten to know you over the last 16 years. I told him it's cool to have the old suit. It's kind of cool. That was before I was racing against you, but it's still pretty cool (laughing).
But, yeah, it's been a blast, man. I hope you enjoy your time. We've talked a lot on the airplane about what it's going to be like, and he seems like he's pretty excited about it, so I'm happy for him.
THE MODERATOR: Joey, thanks for spending time with us. Best of luck tomorrow.
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