TEAM CHEVY AT TALLADEGA 2: Alex Bowman Breakout Session Highlights

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWDAY
1000BULBS.COM 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 11, 2019

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE / AMAZON ECHO AUTO CAMARO ZL1, Media Breakout Session Highlights:

HOW DID YOU FEEL IN PRACTICE?
“Yeah, we were OK in practice. We didn’t get off of pit road very well there when we were out with our Chevy teammates, we were just a little slow getting up to speed. We worked on our height a little more after that and I think we got some speed dialed into the car. So, I think we should be pretty good.”

HOW MUCH DID THE CHEVY’S WORK TOGETHER AND DID THEY HAVE THE ‘COME TO CHEVY’ MEETING?
“I haven’t been a part of any meetings yet, but I know obviously there has been a lot of talk and everyone is communicating well. We’ll try to get a bow tie in victory lane.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE GROWTH OF THIS TEAM THIS SEASON? YOU GUYS HAVE REALLY COME A LONG WAY IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
“Yeah, for sure. We started the season pretty poorly and then had a couple of good months. We kind of slumped again for awhile and, now, we are stringing some good finishes together. We just need to work on consistency is really the biggest thing, but I think everyone on the team is working really well together and do a really good job of working together.”

GIVEN HOW YOU FINSIHED LAST TIME HERE AT TALLADEGA AND THE LAST COUPLE OF RACES, YOU HAVE TO FEEL CONFIDENT IN YOUR MOVES AND CONFIDENT IN WHAT YOU’RE DOING.
“I think the speedways are really the only places where you can’t look at past finishes as an indicator of how you’re going to run when you go somewhere. I think some guys are really good at speedways and others seem to not be. But running second here in the spring isn’t necessarily a guarantee that we’re going to run well here this time.”

WAS THERE A SPECIFIC TURNING POINT FOR THIS TEAM?
“I don’t know that there was a huge turning point, we just know we have to run well right now. For some reason, with this team, myself, and Greg (Ives), when the pressure gets turned up, we seem to thrive in that environment. We’re definitely doing well right now and bringing really good cars to the race track. It’s all working out really well.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GOING INTO KANSAS?
“I can’t wait to get there. I feel like I gave that one away in the spring. I know the car we are talking there is really good. That’s one of my favorite race tracks, regardless of everything. I’m looking forward to getting there, it puts on a great show. It’s probably the best place to showcase our current rules package, so I’m looking forward to it.”

YOU’VE BEEN IN THE PLAYOFFS NOW A COUPLE OF TIMES, YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH ELIMINATIONS. IS IT ANY DIFFERENT HANDLING THE PRESSURE NOW? DO YOU GET USED TO IT?
“No, I mean I think it’s about the same. I can’t sit here and say that I enjoy the high-pressure situations and that it makes me feel good. But, for some reason, I tend to thrive in those high-pressure situations. So, I’m just trying to use it to my advantage as much as I can. I think from last year to this year, the pressure is about the same. We just had a good first round instead of a really poor first race in the round of 12 last year. This year, we have a legitimate shot I think.”

AFTER KANSAS IN THE SPRING, DID YOU KNOW IMMEDIATELY WHAT PREVENTED YOU FROM WINNING? OR WAS IT WHEN YOU WENT BACK TO REVIEW THINGS THAT YOU HAD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING?
“Yeah, we had all of those cautions at the end, and some guys took tires and we stayed out. So, that didn’t help us, we were on much older tires than the guys we were racing. But I went to the bottom behind a lap car, lost the nose and had to left. That gave Brad (Keselowski) the opportunity to get by me. He was a little faster than we were at that point, just based on him being on four tires. But I would have liked to put up a better fight than I did, for sure.”

HAVE YOU ALWAYS THRIVED UNDER PRESSURE?
“I don’t really get a lot of pressure aside from racing, so I don’t know. I guess I’ve never really realized I thrived under pressure in racing until the last couple of years. But it’s part of it. I don’t necessarily enjoy the pressure, but for some reason, we tend to run well with it.”

WITH THE RECENT SURGES LATELY, IS IT LIKE A FEELING OF ‘I BELONG HERE’?
“Yeah, I mean I think we belonged to be in this round and move on before that. But I think we are definitely stating it and doing a really good job of showing people that.”

YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF MOMENTUM THIS SEASON. DO YOU FEEL LIKE TALLADEGA IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE TRACKS TO RACE AT?
“No, I don’t think any driver ever comes here and says it’s their favorite track to run at. There’s a high probability of crashing and hitting stuff pretty hard. But the stress level around speedway racing is just really high. You can’t control your own destiny and I feel like race car drivers like to be in control. This is a place where you’re just not. Obviously, it puts on a great show for the fans and that’s always really cool to see. It’s not a bad place by any means, but it’s just probably not my favorite race weekend.”

YOU PUT UP SOME BIG NUMBERS IN PRACTICE. ARE YOU FEELING THAT LEVEL OF SPEED?
“It really doesn’t. But I think in the race maybe, but practice with the smaller packs, you can’t really tell you’re going that much faster. Obviously, the bumps in turn three have gotten quite a bit bigger over the new tunnel. So, that’s a little different. Other than that, it just feels like a normal speedway.”

WITH THE PACKAGE, AS A DRIVER, DOES SPEED MATTER ANY MORE?
“I think regardless, you’re having to drive the cars wherever you go. There hasn’t been a race where we’ve been easy wide open all day, even with the 550 package at the intermediate tracks, you’re still driving them. It hasn’t changed them as much as you would think. They are still just as difficult to drive.”

THE PAST FEW WEEKS, ALL FOUR HENDRICK CARS HAVE LOOKED REALLY GOOD. HAS THERE BEEN ANY CHANGES IN COMMUNICATION AMONGST THE FOUR TEAMS?
“Not really. I think everything has been business as usual. I feel like the four of us communicate really well pretty much all the time. Over the last year and a half, we’ve definitely really merged everything together a little bit more and everything has gotten a little more close-knit, just with how the race shops work. Instead of it being the 9/24 and the 48/88 building, it’s all kind of one deal now. That happened quite a while ago, so other than that, we’re business as usual.”

WITH SO MUCH ON THE LINE, DO YOU ANTICIPATE A MUCH DIFFERENT RACE THAN IT WAS HERE IN THE SPRING?
“No, I think it’s going to be a pretty similar race. With speedway racing, there’s always someone willing to be aggressive and there’s always someone willing to push the issue. The people that are doing it may change, but I feel like it will look like a similar race to what we’ve had at the last couple.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN THE SPRING THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO THIS WEEKEND?
“Not much has changed, the cars drive really similar. The cars drove similar from last year’s speedway package to this year’s speedway package, they just get up to speed a little quicker and probably a little faster overall. It’s really just a lot of the same.”

HOW AWARE OF THE POINTS ARE YOU DURING A RACE?
“Any awareness I have is coming from my crew chief, just because there’s so much going on all the time. I think this is a race that you’ll be able to see when someone gets a lot of stage points or goes and wins a stage. Other than that, probably not going to pay too much attention to it until we get to next week.”

DON’T YOU HAVE TO TRUST A LOT IN THIS RACE?
“Yeah, for sure. I think that’s why we see the teams work together and the manufacturers work together because when you know you can trust somebody, there’s definitely strength in numbers.”

ARE YOU FEELING GOOD ABOUT THE WEEKEND?
“I think so. I was a little disappointed about our first run, honestly. I know we’ll get a little more speed in it and be just fine.”

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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