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Best quotes from NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Days
By Staff Report | Thursday, September 3, 2020
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Aric Almirola on being considered a sleeper for a deep playoff run: “I'm good if they do. It makes no difference to me what anybody else thinks, and that’s an attitude that I’ve had for a long time. I’m the type of guy that just really puts my head down and goes to work with my race team, and that’s all I really care about is working with Bugarewicz and the guys on my team.
"... I am excited about the playoffs. I do feel like we have a lot of potential. We’ve run really well. We’ve made some mistakes along the way that we certainly have to clean up going into the playoffs to be a contender, but I do feel like our speed and the way that we’ve been running, the capability is certainly there."
"... I am excited about the playoffs. I do feel like we have a lot of potential. We’ve run really well. We’ve made some mistakes along the way that we certainly have to clean up going into the playoffs to be a contender, but I do feel like our speed and the way that we’ve been running, the capability is certainly there."
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Aric Almirola on his tenure at Stewart-Haas Racing after signing an extension for 2021: "Joining Stewart-Haas Racing and performing at the level that I have over the last three years and being a consistent playoff contender -- my first year there in 2018, going really deep into the rounds of the playoffs and ultimately finishing fifth in the points was reinvigorating for me and my career, absolutely. I went six seasons before that and never really seen that type of success, and there’s only so long you can stay in this sport and be average, and that’s just being truthful.
"I was grateful for that opportunity in 2018 and I took that opportunity knowing that I was gonna do one of two things, I was either gonna perform at a high level like Stewart-Haas Racing I know is capable of and I was either gonna rise to that occasion, or I was gonna be average and my days were gonna be numbered and I was probably gonna leave this sport, but at least at that point I would be able to sleep at night knowing that I got a great opportunity and I wasn’t as good as I thought I was, or I got a great opportunity and I performed at a pretty high level with that opportunity. So far, I’ve been able to have some success. I still want more. I still have a burning desire to win more races, lead more laps and ultimately win a championship, but, so far, we’ve been successful."
"I was grateful for that opportunity in 2018 and I took that opportunity knowing that I was gonna do one of two things, I was either gonna perform at a high level like Stewart-Haas Racing I know is capable of and I was either gonna rise to that occasion, or I was gonna be average and my days were gonna be numbered and I was probably gonna leave this sport, but at least at that point I would be able to sleep at night knowing that I got a great opportunity and I wasn’t as good as I thought I was, or I got a great opportunity and I performed at a pretty high level with that opportunity. So far, I’ve been able to have some success. I still want more. I still have a burning desire to win more races, lead more laps and ultimately win a championship, but, so far, we’ve been successful."
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Alex Bowman on Jimmie Johnson not qualifying for the NASCAR Playoffs but still being a resource for Hendrick Motorsports: “Jimmie 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. ... 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.”
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Alex Bowman on the championship being moved to Phoenix Raceway since he’s an Arizona native: “It world mean the world to me to make the Championship 4 and try to win a championship in Arizona. That would be really special. That race track has kind of a love-hate relationship with me.”
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Ryan Blaney on the wild-card nature of the Round of 12 tracks: "There are kind of some funky races in there with the Roval and Talladega, like you said. You never know what's gonna happen in those rounds. You have one kind of normal race at Vegas there, and then you have the Roval and Talladega, so I don't know. I don't know what can happen in that round."
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Ryan Blaney on if he can go head-to-head with Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin: "I'm not gonna sit here and say, 'No, we don't have the speed.' You'd like to think so. There are some races I feel like we've been better than those guys and brought it to them and other races they've had really good cars and they've obviously shown up like they have all year. They've done a great job."
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Clint Bowyer on who the playoff dark horse is: "William Byron, I guess. If you look at him -- momentum is something, confidence is something, winning your first race is worth something, having a crew chief like Chad Knaus is worth something -- trust me. That all is building at the right time. I came into the playoffs before and won New Hampshire right off the bat and rode that off into a second-place finish and a shot at a title. That's real. ... Look at Tony Stewart, his last championship. They sucked all year. All of a sudden, boom, here they come running and get on that wave, found the right wave and rode that damn thing off into the sunset down there at Homestead and a championship."
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Clint Bowyer on if he feels pressure: "Hell yeah, you feel pressure. Yeah. I'm gonna postpone that pressure until I get in that damn car (Sunday) night. I'm just gonna wait for then. I'm not gonna go ahead and feel pressure right now. I've chosen not to experience pressure today, Wednesday. (Sunday), it's a different day."
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Kurt Busch on a 2020 regular season that saw him and his brother go winless: "I never would have guessed. I felt like the way our season started was strong and consistent; and then we had a shot to win the first race back, after our delay, at Darlington. And then, it just seemed like these opportunities here or there just like slipped through our fingers and we didn't execute to get those wins. And so, my little brother, same thing. I feel like his luck has been challenged in many different ways and it just hasn't unfolded for him to get those wins."
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Kurt Busch on the challenge of the 10-week run of the playoffs: "It's a playoff mindset. It's a playoff atmosphere. And you can't get too far ahead of yourself. Each and every week it's just that laser focus on what it takes to execute and to put ourselves in good position at Darlington. Once Darlington is over, then its laser focus on Richmond. And again, just that playoff mindset and going and attacking it peacefully and strategically because 10 weeks is a long run, but you've got to stay on it."
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Kyle Busch on the importance of keeping his consecutive winning season streak intact: “It’s really important. Think about it, it’s a 16-year investment that we’ve placed on that being able to win a race in 16 consecutive seasons so hopefully we can keep that going and get it to 17 and then to 18 or however many that I’m here. It would be nice if I’m able to keep winning races all the way through my career each and every single year that I’m out there. This year has just not lent itself to our favor so far, but the playoffs start now and we’re still in this thing.”
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Kyle Busch on how much the 2020 season has tested him: “Just seems like we can’t shake this monkey off our back. Wherever he is, whatever he looks like, somebody tell me and we’re going to go for a few roll-arounds here and get him off my back in order go out here and have a solid, successful, productive final 10 weeks.”
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William Byron on the contract extension he recently signed with Hendrick Motorsports: "I had one year left after this one, so it wasn't super urgent to get it done or anything. But when Hendrick came to me and wanted to sign for a couple more years, I was thrilled, and I think it's worked out well for both of us. The fact that they have confidence in me is a great thing and I can just go out there and race as hard as I can and try to do the best that I can for them."
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William Byron on becoming the second driver (along with Jeff Gordon) to win in the No. 24 car: "It was cool to talk to Jeff (Gordon) on Sunday, just get his thoughts on it and just the excitement there between the two of us. We've really worked well together in the past of just trying to understand how to get better and improve. He's given me some nuggets and some things that I can improve on. ... It's just been a great couple of days."
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Cole Custer on making the playoffs: "I think we can go in there and prove some people wrong is the biggest thing, but at the end of the day it's about being consistent and it's about being competitive."
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Cole Custer on driving for Tony Stewart: "Tony is definitely probably every driver's dream come true to have as a boss. I mean, somebody I've watched since I was a little kid on TV and one of the legends of our sport is pretty amazing and he's definitely one of those guys to give you support going into different things and going into races and into the playoffs. Means the world. We had a team pep rally this week and he was on it, and on the Zoom call obviously since we can't do it in person, but to have that kind of support from him and seeing how we're doing means a lot for me."
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Matt DiBenedetto on his future with Wood Brothers Racing: "Obviously I love driving for the Wood Brothers and our alliance with Team Penske is incredible and a place I want to call home for many years to come. I am sure we will get to that. My contract has options built in for multiple years and they expressed that they wanted this to be a relationship for many years to come so I would expect to have those talks here pretty soon to hopefully do what I assume should be continuing to drive this 21 car."
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Matt DiBenedetto on his pick for a playoff dark horse, besides himself: "I think there are a lot of tough contenders but if I was picking somebody -- we were talking last night and I was watching some of the picks that NBC and FOX and everyone was making for the Championship 4 and I thought that my pick might be Chase Elliott. I think he could be a good contender that might make his way into that final four and have a shot to win a championship."
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Austin Dillon on being counted out by those forecasting the playoffs: "I love being dismissed. I think it's a great. I've just kind of always been that way. I feel like maybe not that way in the Trucks or Xfinity at the end of those runs, but in the Cup Series, it's been a little bit of that. So and I feel like that's what kind of propels us, and then we sneak up on people. I was very close to making it to the third round a couple years back in the playoffs and missed it by one point to Denny Hamlin so I know from that experience at every point matters, and we just need to go out there and do our job these first three races. ... We're going to be very aggressive in getting those points and hopefully mess up a lot of brackets."
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Austin Dillon on what it would mean to get a third crown-jewel win in his Junior Johnson throwback car: "Oh, man, literally just made me smile because this Junior Johnson car means so much to me. It's a beautiful car. I grew up going to school with Junior's kids and Junior actually came to our school and spoke to us when I was like in middle school and he was just a hero to me."
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Chase Elliott on if his road-course success gives him an advantage in the Round of 12 where the Roval will be run: "I’m not sure that I feel like it gives us an advantage, but I’ve been fortunate to have some really good runs there. I think that the Daytona deal went really good, which was nice. But I’m sure everybody is going to be getting better, as they always are."
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Chase Elliott on if it weighs on him having not reached the Championship 4 yet: “It’s the goal, right? I mean, you can’t win the championship without making that final four; and that’s been that point of the playoffs that we haven’t been able to bust through yet. So, I feel like we’ve been really close at times to doing it. I think we’re very capable of making the final four. So, at the end of the day, if me being confident and knowing that we can do it, and my team knowing that (too), is the case and it is, then I think that’s really all that matters to me."
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Kevin Harvick on winning a title today as opposed to the 1970s and 1980s in NASCAR: "It’s different. Winning a championship today isn’t how (Dale) Earnhardt and (Richard) Petty did it. I think it’s a much different style of winning a championship than what it used to be, so I think when you look at the point standings from this year, you see why the playoffs were put into effect in trying to make sure that we had an intriguing 10 weeks of racing as we went toward the end of the year. I think as you look at that it’s very difficult to get yourself to the last race of the season and be one of those four cars and trying to be able to race for, let alone win, a championship. It’s very difficult to put yourself in that position and once you get there be able to put everything together against the other three guys on one particular day."
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Kevin Harvick on who may be the dark horse of the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs: "Everyone is waiting on Kyle Busch to knock down that wall. We all know that he could win on any given week and know that he’s had a lot of bad luck this year, but it really could be anybody that goes on that type of run with the situation that we’re in."
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Denny Hamlin on how his success with crew chief Chris Gabehart came about: "I think I’ve changed a little bit as a driver. I’ve just adapted quite a bit as well. It’s tough to say what has automatically just flipped the switch and made the results what they’ve been over the last two years or less than two years. Certainly, there’s a process we’ve put in to preparing for each week that is working for us, it’s working for me. Me and Chris have just kind of got a thing going that’s working for us. I don’t really know what it is, I just know that we’re performing at tracks that haven’t necessarily and statistically been strong suits for us. Each and every week we’re contending for the race win. I don’t know why that is, but it’s just happening."
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Denny Hamlin on what he wants to see in the playoffs: "I want to see how we do in the first round. I want to see, these are historically really good tracks for me. I think that I want to see our momentum continue. We’re not going to race any differently, especially in the first round. I think that I’m going to be very aggressive. I’m going to try to get more wins. I just want to see who shows up from the competition standpoint that maybe people have slept on or maybe hasn’t shown everything they had until the playoffs started. I think there will be one or two guys that find a way to run significantly better than what they have shown during the regular season and we’re going to have to step up our game accordingly to that."
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Brad Keselowski on his motivation to keep chasing championships: "First off, I don’t like to suck, so that’s one thing that drives me. If you’re gonna do something, do it well and winning races and going for a championship, in my opinion, is doing something well. So that drives me because I don’t want to embarrass myself, but beyond that, building a team, seeing them come together, being a part of it and the camaraderie, that’s pretty darn cool. I like to see other people come together and I like to be a part of it, so there’s a lot of things that drive me and those are probably the two biggest -- not the only ones.
"I think in a lot of ways I’ve been blessed as much as many of us have to be here at this time and point in my life, in my career, in the history of the world. We have the opportunities we have, so why not make the most of them? I met with my team yesterday in a socially-distanced gathering and I told them at the end of this 10 weeks someone will be holding the championship trophy. Why not us? I still feel that way and that’s my approach. Why not us? We can do it just as well as anybody and I’m ready for that challenge. I want to do it as a team and I think that’s exactly what we’re gonna do."
"I think in a lot of ways I’ve been blessed as much as many of us have to be here at this time and point in my life, in my career, in the history of the world. We have the opportunities we have, so why not make the most of them? I met with my team yesterday in a socially-distanced gathering and I told them at the end of this 10 weeks someone will be holding the championship trophy. Why not us? I still feel that way and that’s my approach. Why not us? We can do it just as well as anybody and I’m ready for that challenge. I want to do it as a team and I think that’s exactly what we’re gonna do."
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Brad Keselowski on why it is not a foregone conclusion Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin will make it to the Championship 4: "They’ve got a lot of bonus points. There ain’t no doubt about that. That’s gonna serve them really, really well as they go through the rounds, but I tell you, I don’t know if there’s enough bonus points in the world to get you through that second round. That second round is hairy. Talladega is gonna be hairy. The Roval is gonna be hairy. You’re gonna want to go to Vegas and win, and the way the format is set up, it’s intentionally designed to not allow somebody to just coast through no matter how good your regular season is, so I suspect that at least one of those two guys will find themselves in a spot at some point in time that they didn’t want to be."
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Joey Logano on his playoff outlook: "We're two or three little things away from that and this year is just reminding me of 2018, which is a great season for me, where we had some growing pains and some things we had to learn throughout the regular season and we slowly built the speed back up for the playoffs and the next thing you know we won two of the most important races and we win the championship. It just has that feeling to me throughout the regular season, so I feel like for those reasons I'm as confident as anybody rolling into this thing in our race team and myself because we've been here before. We've done this before, so we're ready to rock."
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Joey Logano on Bristol Motor Speedway as a cutoff race in the Round of 16: "I'm cool with it. I think it's definitely gonna add some drama. We all kind of saw what kind of drama Daytona brought last week with it being the last race of the regular season and how exciting that is, so for the sport it's great. For the teams, a little stressful because anything can happen. We've seen strategy work in a lot of different ways at Bristol. We've seen contact at Bristol, so a lot of things can happen, but, for the most part, we've just got to do our thing."
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Martin Truex Jr. on the trait needed to reach the Championship 4: "You’ve got to be resilient. There’s going to be times in the playoffs when your back is against the wall or you need to make something happen. That’s been the case for us throughout the years. Whether it’s been a season where a lot of things have gone right or a season where things have gone wrong. At the end the day, it’s 10 races to get in and you have to be resilient. You are going to face challenges along the way."
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Martin Truex Jr. on James Small's first playoff run as crew chief (not pictured): "I feel good about James and his decision making. I think throughout the year he has gotten stronger, more confident in his decisions. That’s really the key. I feel like he’s a guy that is not going to crack under pressure. That’s really the main point. If you have a guy that is prone to cracking, that’s never a good feeling – when you’re like, 'OK, the cautions came out, what are we going to do? Ahh, well we could do this, or we could do that, or you know.’ I think he’s gotten pretty good throughout the year. I have confidence in him. There’s going to be some chances I’m sure for that to get tested in the playoffs, but I’m sure he’s going to do a good job with it, and we will see how it goes."
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