Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on his previous Road America experience: “Kyle has raced there before and I did in Xfinity, as well, but there’s not much you can pull from those past experiences. It’s been such a long time, so we’re trying to take a fresh look at understanding the race. We’ll go back and watch some Xfinity races from the past couple of years to try to get a feel for what is important there, what do we need to attack and what we need to tune.”
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on returning to Road America: “I’ve raced up at Road America a couple times in the Xfinity Series and I always really enjoyed going there. It’s a cool racetrack. There are a lot of race fans up there - a lot of people that enjoyed having us racing there. I’ve always felt very welcome and I don’t anticipate this weekend being any different. I am looking forward to getting back up there.”
Elliott on if preparations at Hendrick Motorsports have changed with the success this season: “I don’t think our prep has changed, but it’s a good thing, right? We would much rather be on this side of the fence than the other. I don’t really feel like any of us that are involved are any different people, or any better people or worse than we were last year or the year before. Those of us that have been around for a few years. Obviously, the car has changed, but how we prepare for races, how I prepare for races – you are either prepared for a race or you’re not at the end of the day. You either have the knowledge and understand what you’re looking for or you don’t. I haven’t really changed that approach since my rookie year and I feel like when things are going good and we are clicking and things are working well we can perform at a high level. I don’t see any need in us changing what we do too much.”
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on returning to Road America: “I’m excited for this road course. I finished sixth there in the Xfinity Series in 2017. I had a good run and felt like it was one of my best road course races in that series overall. I expect more of the same this weekend in the Cup car. You just want to make sure that the car turns well and that you’re good in the braking zones. For us as a team, I think we will start off getting back to the basics of road course racing. We’ve had some bad luck recently but normally we’re really good at this style of racing. I’m excited that it’s another new track for the series and I think it will race really well for our cars.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on returning to road course racing: “Honestly, this weekend we’re looking to set the reset button on our road course racing program for the No. 24 team. After Sonoma and how things ended and some misfortune at the DAYTONA Road Course, we really want to get back to the speed and execution we had at COTA. Even with suffering damage there, we were able to make it back through the field and on a strategy that set us up well for the end before the weather picked up. William feels like road course racing has become one of his strengths over the last couple years and we want to keep him confident in that. So, the plan is to have a nice, basic weekend of executing like we need to and having a solid plan should any misfortune arise. We know what we’re capable of – it’s just a matter of maximizing where we can and there’s potential for that this weekend.”
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the 2021 success at Hendrick Motorsports: “The morale is obviously super high at Hendrick Motorsports. It's really cool to see it that way. I think there's not one thing. It’s each and every individual at Hendrick Motorsports from top to bottom in every department; it's everybody at Chevrolet. Our engines are strong, bodies are great, chassis are great. The guys putting them together are doing a great job. Having Chad (Knaus) in a new role is really good. Mr. (Rick) Hendrick and Jeff (Andrews) and everybody are giving us all the tools we need to put the parts and pieces together to go win races. It’s not one thing. It's a culmination of everybody's hard work. It's cool to be a part of it and be the guy that gets to drive them.”
Bowman on returning to Road America: “I am excited to get to Road America this weekend. I raced there in the Xfinity Series back in 2013, so getting back there is going to be a lot of fun. It is a long racetrack and really long lap times, but it is a fun place and really technical.”
Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the team’s experience at Pocono last weekend: “It was definitely odd to win and then have to get ready to race again the next day. I’m very thankful that we were able to have a good car again on Sunday and able to come home seventh. Saturday kind of was going as planned. Obviously, we knew that the No. 5 car had four tires and we had two tires. You never want to see your teammate have an issue like that but we were in the position we needed to be in, and it just worked out. On the last lap, we were talking about what we needed for Sunday’s race to be better. When we crossed the line first, it was a roller coaster of emotion and a surprised celebration for me on the box.”
Ives on his experience at Road America: “It is definitely an advantage having track time at a place like Road America. The hardest part is probably only remembering the corners that were most prevalent. Hendrick has great cars right now and the power has been strong from the Hendrick engine shop, so I know that we can get another good finish this weekend.”
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