| When the NASCAR Cup Series last raced at Bristol in March, that was your first Cup Series start on Bristol’s traditional, concrete layout. What was it like compared to what you knew the track to be when you competed there in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series? “The tire compound kind of threw everybody for a loop because it wore so differently than anything anyone had experienced before. No one was really sure if it was heat-related, if it was the temperature of the racetrack, rubber getting laid down, whatever it was, but the tire wore out quite a bit compared to prior Cup races that I hadn’t been a part of. Hopefully, you can go around 40 laps on a set of tires and you save them better than the competition, so you kind of just have to pace yourself.” Your Stewart-Haas teammate, Chase Briscoe, was able to participate in a Goodyear tire test over the summer at Bristol. How valuable is the data from that test for you and your teammates? “It’s tough because it takes a lot of running to lay rubber on the racetrack. When they tested up there, is was Chase and just two other cars. It typically takes the full three days to get some rubber on the racetrack, so that test really isn’t the same as when we go there for practice and the race.” The tire wear we saw in the last race at Bristol – did you like it or dislike it? “I liked it just because it was so much different, and I thought there was a lot of strategy from the driver’s input and how you paced your runs, so with the tires wearing out, it was definitely challenging. The cautions were a question of if they were going to throw a caution or not, and we kind of had challenges there on how you needed to pace out the runs. But other than that, I thought it was a lot of fun just being able to manage your tires like a Late Model race.” It seemed like a return to old-school racing, where tire management was the key to success. In all the racing that you’ve done in your career, was there a track or style of car where you had to manage your tires that you ended up relying on for that Bristol race? “Growing up short-track racing, you’re always managing your tires at the worn-out racetracks – Pensacola, Tucson Speedway, Greenville-Pickens. You’re always losing grip throughout a run and the more you can save, the more speed you could have at the end of a run. Bristol was a little different – it was the same in a sense, but it was different because you would wear the tire all the way down to the cords where you just blew the tire, so you had to be patient and save your aggression at the beginning of a run and throughout a run just so you didn’t blow the tire all the way out and wear it all the way down, compared to Late Model races where you lose grip as the laps go on, but the harder you push.” How do you save your tires? You have to continue to race, but what is that balance between racing for the position you have now and the position you want to have later? “You just keep the car a little straighter on exits and if you get to 100-percent throttle at some point, you knock it down maybe 20-percent throttle and you just wait on it, you pick the gas up, and instead of wide open, you might go to 50 percent for a little bit just so you’re not slipping that tire on the surface of the racetrack, not grinding through the front tires, overdriving your entries. It’s challenging, but it’s a lot of fun, too, to be able to out-save the guys in front of you. And then you could see the cords at Bristol on the guys in front of you. You could literally see a white ring around their tires and you’d be like, ‘Alright, I can get that guy easily.’ I mean, they fall off the pace so fast.” We’ve talked about how different the current Cup car is to an Xfinity Series car, but with six Xfinity Series starts at Bristol – two of which ended in victory lane – do you feel you have a good handle on the racetrack despite not having much Cup experience at Bristol? “I think having a good game plan and preparation is good, but you don’t fully know what your car is going to handle like until you get there and see how the grip levels of the traction compound are going to be. Is it going to be faster to run around the bottom? Will the race move up? Those are kind of unknowns until you see just how the rubber’s being laid down. The preparation’s there to have a solid idea of what we’re going to need to have or need to do.” Bristol is a tough place, period. It’s an even tougher place to win. How satisfying was your first Bristol win in June 2020, which came during COVID? “It was definitely different during COVID. It felt a little eerie, just because that place has so many grandstands and you’re surrounded by it, so when you don’t have anyone there, it’s a little awkward. But at the same time, it was still really special. I think the coolest part about winning at Bristol is driving up on top of the building to victory lane, and the trophy’s pretty cool – you get a sword, so that’s awesome. Then to do it in 2022 again, with fans there, it was super cool, the whole place just cheering your name and cheering you on. I always like to do a burnout up that driveway up onto the second floor, up on top of that building. That’s always super cool.” Do you feel like you’ve conquered something when you win at Bristol? “Yeah, it was the coolest track as a little kid, probably the most unique track that we go to. I feel like every driver probably has that on their bucket list of, ‘Man, I want to win there one day.’ There’s nothing like it.” How important is patience at Bristol, but when do you also have to determine when enough is enough and assert yourself so you’re not getting taken advantage of out there on the racetrack? “You have to be disciplined at Bristol, but I don’t know if you necessarily have to be patient. You have to go from the get-go and make as much lap time as possible because if you get stuck or can’t make a pass, the leaders are coming and they’re not slowing down for anything. You’ve got to be on your game from lap one all the way to the checkered flag.” You first saw Bristol back in 2016 when you competed in a NASCAR K&N Series East race. Was that an eyes-wide-open moment? “I don’t want to say I was scared, but I was just nervous because I didn’t know what to think. It was definitely intimidating because you’re like, ‘Oh, man, this place looks pretty fast.’ You don’t really know when you’re a 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kid going there, but after having reps of doing it, I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable. But I remember my first laps on the racetrack and I remember looking around and wondering how did I just manage to get around this track with the amount of throttle I was carrying. It’s definitely a daunting racetrack and there are some big moments. I feel like Bristol probably has the highest sensation of speed of any track, even though we’re probably going the slowest of any track. It feels like you’re going the fastest because things happen so fast and you’re around other cars and you’re constantly up close to other cars, or you’re side-by-side with other cars, two-, three-wide. It gets pretty intense. You think, man, I don’t think this thing is going to grip up and it does. It’s a pretty wild feeling.” | 
