They Said it at Media Day at Daytona

Compiled by Roy J. Akers of www.skyviewsports.net

Daytona Beach, Fla.

The drivers are fresh with great quips on media day. The grind of the season has not set in for most. Most drivers are positive on the changes of The CHASE format and believe the new end-of-season points battle will lrsbre them in the top 16. Read the quotes and comment below.

William Byron on a possible three-peat

Is it more excitement? What do you feel third year in a row? 

“I feel really excited. I’m ready to get racing again. I feel like I had a great off-season, but I found myself in the off-season… just feeling like I actually wanted to get back in the car. I wanted to experience those emotions again. I kind of missed that.  There’s a lot of aspects I didn’t miss, but the aspect of racing and being in the car with my guys and everything, that I really missed as the off-season went on.  

Yeah, I think that’s just kind of what I’m looking forward to. I guess I’m looking forward to Thursday night; just getting in the Duel and dicing it up. I had a lot of fun at the Clash. Yeah, I’m just excited about that.”

Kyle Busch on whether running in the front or back is best

Some drivers what to run up front, some want to be further back. What is the strategy? Where do you want to run during the race? Where do you want to be at the end of the Daytona 500?

“I don’t know. Two years ago, when we were here, Austin Dillon and myself got the lead. We were in the control of the race. We were running first and second when we came off of Turn 4. I saw the white flag in the flag man’s hand, and unfortunately, a caution came out as we got to the front side of pit rod entry. And after that, we weren’t able to hold the lead on the restarts, but I led mile marker 500. That’s just the way it goes… you just never know how it’s exactly gonna end. So, to be out front, you feel like that’s the safest spot to be, but sometimes you see guys spun out of the lead and they’re not the ones to win. There are guys that win coming out of Turn 2 and they’re in 7th place or they’re in 11th place, It just depends, you never know.”

Erik Jones on the Prestige of the Daytona 500

ERIK JONES, No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB

Does the change in the postseason format bring back the “prestige” of this race?

“Yeah, I think that’s a good way to think of it. I was kind of, I guess, milling over in my mind a little bit, what that change would be like for the (Daytona) 500. I think it does change the mindset a little bit of the guys that think this is maybe one of their only four shots in the year of winning. That changes a lot. I think the racing will be a little bit different. Guys (will) still be pushing to win, but you’re probably going to see some different moves of just trying to be in contention to win it. I’m excited about it. I’m happy to see what the points are this year and how the system’s going to work, and I think just enjoying whoever does get the chance to win this race Sunday, to really just get to enjoy being the 500 winner is pretty neat.”

Chase Briscoe on the final pitstop

How do you prepare and react to the last round of pitstops in the Daytona 500?

“The intensity that we experience all year long, I feel like there’s nothing like it after the final green flag (pit)stop. Before that, everybody’s kind of just riding around, saving as much fuel as possible, and it’s like a chess match, and who can save the most, and say we’re running 54-second lap times, and we get within like two or three laps of pitting, or that first group peels off. Now, all of a sudden, we’re running 49-second lap times. It is just that five-lap window of when guys are about to pit, or when the first one peels off. From there, to the next five laps, is the most intense thing we do all year long, because guys know that that is their only opportunity to make passes. Once we kind of get double-filed out, you’re kind of stuck there, for the most part. So, you were just making these huge blocks. Guys are having runs because they’re coming on pit road, and that’s where typically we’ve seen the chaos just happen. You go from kind of riding around, you’re just cruising around there, really slow compared to what you normally do. And all of a sudden, you’re just on the edge of destruction. That feeling, to me, is unlike anything else we do all season long. And you still have it at Talladega and stuff, but the Daytona 500 is so intense because guys are willing to do whatever to try to win the race. Somehow, we could bottle up that feeling and give it to every fan or every person who’s ever watched the sport, they would be hooked up.”

Christopher Bell on the wild racing at the end of the Daytona 500

With the move to the Chase this year, how will it impact the racing at the end of the Daytona 500?

“That’s a great question. I’ve honestly thought about this a lot. The Daytona 500 in the past, with the previous format, it kind of gave it a win or bust mentality where you would lay it all on the line and go for the win and understand if you wreck out you’re going to be fine – hopefully you win a race in the next couple, right? Certainly, in the regular season. Where now, those points that you potentially lose if you do wreck out are going to matter a lot more. Yeah, the risk management of the Daytona 500 certainly becomes more of a talking point. Frankly, if you’re running second or third, you’re probably going to risk it all to win the Daytona 500 because it’s that big of an event. But I think if you’re running outside of that top 10, you’re going to be thinking about, ‘Hey, if I make a mistake here and get crashed out, I’m going to lose a lot of points.’ Every week is going to matter more now than it did in the previous format.”

Chase Briscoe Bonus Quote

What do you think the long-term effects of this format will be at other tracks this season?

 I don’t know. The only time I ever see this format changing how guys race is a situation like me at the Bristol dirt race (2022) with (Tyler) Reddick where I had a win in the bank. If I run second, it literally does nothing for me. If I run 28th, it’s the same. So, you just make this super high-risk move, knowing that a win is all that’s going to change your season. Where now, under this format, I know that the risk of the move is very, very high. And the reward, odds are, I’m probably putting myself in a really bad spot. You’re just smarter about that because the difference in 2nd and 28th now is extreme. Where in the past, (if) you had a win, it really didn’t matter. You would just make the move, and if it worked out great, if not, you just go on to the next one. I think that’s the only situation where you’re going to see guys being just a little more conscious of the situation. If it’s an extremely high-risk move at the end of the race, you’re probably just going be a little bit smarter about it.”