Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on challenges of preparing for Bristol dirt race: "Probably one of the hardest things is having Kyle Larson in your car knowing you have the highest expectation to live up to – which is a great thing. The other big thing in dirt racing that doesn’t get as much attention is what we have to do to make sure the car is durable and will last the whole race – like the right cooling to the proper systems in the car – like gear cooling and engine cooling. That’s step one. Step two, of course, is to have a fast car and to tune on it correctly during the race to be there at the end."
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on returning to the Bristol dirt for the second year: "Last year, I think we got pretty fortunate to run where we did. We had a lot going on there at the end of the race and were kind of hanging on. This year, I think is just going to be a completely different ball game with this car. Being able to adapt quickly is going to be the key, because I think this year is going to be different than last. Whoever hits on that quickly and figures out what it’s going to take to be fast is likely going to be rewarded for it."
Elliott on racing at night at Bristol: "I think it’s a great thing moving this event to night. I think it’s going to help with a lot of the issues we had, keeping some moisture in the track hopefully and then obviously keeping the dust down. I think everything we learned last year has been a great tool of how to go about it this season. It seems like we’re doing all the right things and hopefully it can be a good show. I think it has a lot of potential."
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his thoughts racing on dirt this weekend: "Even though we raced there last year, this weekend’s race is still a pretty big unknown with the Next Gen car. We ran well last year, but other than watching the videos from the test that NASCAR had a little while ago, it’s hard to know how this new car will race on dirt. I know NASCAR looked at making some changes to the car, but I’m not biased either way. We’ll all be in the same situation when we get there and it will be all about how you manage the heat races to set you up for the actual race on Sunday. My hope is that the dirt late model race on Thursday may help me get up to speed a little bit faster so we can start fine tuning during practice at Bristol on Friday.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on how the team will prepare to race on dirt this weekend: "I’m really excited to get back to Bristol. William (Byron) did a good job there last year, especially for not having much experience on dirt. I grew up around it, so we tried to lean on that a bit more last year. Now we’re going to try a blend of last year’s car and the Next Gen car. We have some notes from the NASCAR test that they did last week. The difference with dirt racing, though, is how fast the track conditions change. They change just about every lap. How much rain that comes through this week will play a factor and then how the track is prepped plus how they handle all 36 trucks being there before our race. Those are things that simulation can’t predict, you just have to go off of history and experience. It’s a little old school, which I like.”
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on how he is approaching the Bristol dirt with the Next Gen car: “There are a lot of new challenges with the Gen-seven car. The car is designed to look like a streetcar and has parts that are similar to the production car, so it makes it tough to take it on dirt. The guys at Hendrick Motorsports do a great job of putting together really fast cars and giving me what I need to be competitive every week. We don’t have any notes for the event, but I think some of the changes to even, like making it a night race, will help us put on a better show for the fans. Hopefully, we can get another win this year and take home another cool trophy.”
Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing at the Bristol dirt layout with the Next Gen car: “Last year, I feel like we had a great car. Alex (Bowman) was complimentary of the car. We had a mechanical issue that took us out of contention but feel we had a shot to win. Obviously, this year we have an entirely new car and new tire package, but the goal is still the same – we want to go to Bristol, have a solid race, and win at 'The Last Great Colosseum.'"
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