THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Shane Martin. He is the program manager for Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the manufacturer of the championship winning No. 7 car for JR Motorsports.
Shane, how about starting off with some opening comments, stirring victory, surprising victory with all that went on in that race for Justin Allgaier but a long time coming. What does it mean to Chevrolet for him to win his first title?
SHANE MARTIN: I'll tell you, it means a lot to me personally. I'm good friends with Allgaier, and on behalf of Chevrolet, we've come to Phoenix several times and had three cars in and didn't come home with a championship.
I think the biggest thing for me is we came home with a championship tonight here in Phoenix, and I'm so proud of Allgaier. He works hard.
I told him and his crew chief before the race started, I said, there's two people that can beat y'all tonight, and you look in the mirror when you brush your teeth in the morning. That's what I told them.
They worked their tails off. They came back from adversity. They had a restart penalty, and I was kind of making a joke, I said, good Lord, please don't let him speed on pit road and get this penalty. There you have it.
Came back from a lot. Just made it exciting. I didn't need all the excitement of the last two green-white-checkereds, but we got it anyway.
Q. Ford has won a whole lot of championships in a row and you just broke their streak. How satisfying is that?
SHANE MARTIN: Well, I didn't realize that, but it's very satisfying. Anytime that I can do something to help a bowtie get in Victory Lane or break a streak, that's great for me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports