| You’re heading back to Bristol after having endured a challenging race there in the spring with regard to tire wear. Will the lessons learned that weekend help you and the team deal more effectively with the tire wear anticipated once again this weekend? “Now that we all know and have an understanding of how the cars and the tires behaved there in the spring, I think we’ve all made adjustments and made it that much better. I feel pretty good about everybody going back after having made those adjustments and being better this time around. Obviously, we left there the last time with some work to do – the tire wear was excessive, but at the same time we maximized our day. If we didn’t have a tire come apart at the end of the race, we could’ve finished top-10, so that is encouraging.” What makes Bristol unique among the short tracks you’ve raced on, and would you say the success you’ve had there gives you and the team added confidence heading into the weekend? “Bristol is super fast, high-banked, and not very forgiving, so it’s a track that can bite you pretty quickly. At the same time, it’s one of my favorite tracks. We can run on the top and run on the bottom, so as a driver, you’re never locked into a spot and never feel like you can’t move forward. It’s certainly been a track that has been good to me. It’s one of the stronger racetracks that we go to, so the confidence is pretty high. We’re looking to build some consistency and string together some really good finishes over these final races of the season, so hopefully we’ll return with the speed we’ll need to make that happen this weekend.” Racing for 500 laps at Bristol is described as a constant balance of risk versus reward. Being a track where things can happen seemingly in an instant, but also knowing you have only small windows of opportunity to make things happen when you need to, how do you navigate those 500 laps? “Bristol is a really fast short track, so doing the whole bump-and-run is kind of risky now, but at the same time, there are points during that race that we will need to force the issue, and just knowing how to do that correctly plays a big part.” What aspects of your vast experience racing on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour have helped the most when it comes to the way you approach short tracks in a Cup Series car? “Obviously, when it comes to short-track racing, and the experience that I have in Modifieds, all the experience racing at my local tracks and on the Whelen Modified Tour, have certainly shaped who I am as a driver. I’ve won at Bristol in a Modified, and I’ve won there in an Xfinity car. I would say that the grit of having to pass cars and find a way to the front is there. It’s just a matter of going out and executing over the course of 500 laps on Saturday night.” | 
