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You told me you'd not been in Victor Atlanta, Talladega, since with Dale Earnhardt.
When you came to JGR, you're expected to win.
If you're not winning, you're not going to have a job.
When I won Pocono, the weight of the world literally felt like it lifted off my shoulders.
Well, Chase, that was an intense battle all the way to the end, had the speeding
penalty there early, overcame that, got in position there, and obviously you've been in
enough Talladega races.
You know that those can turn upside down at any moment, so that had to feel great to
knock that super speedway win off the checklist.
Yeah, for sure.
It's something that I have been wanting to do for a very long time.
I mean, literally in every division, whether it was, you know, Arca, trucks, Xfinity,
Cup, whatever it was, I never won a super speedway race.
So yeah, just to finally win a super speedway race was something that was super special.
And I put a lot of work into it, because you don't always get to, you know, work to
actually do the results of it.
But to finally just win one of those races and the timing that came in was huge.
Yeah, the timing is obviously something that you don't circle when you go to Talladega.
It's nice when it happens and you're able to capitalize on that.
But for you, the timing of it to get to the championship, to have Johnny Morris there,
all those things coming together had to be something that you probably didn't have circled.
I would assume that Vegas and Martinsville were probably the races that you wanted
to control, but had to feel good to have Johnny Morris and the whole Bass Pro Shop
crowd in Victory Lane there with you.
Yeah, it was certainly perfect timing.
I mean, just, you know, the timing of the playoffs and then just having Johnny there,
you know, we've been able to win a couple of races this year, but Johnny's not been
in any of them and to have him there and just see how excited he was.
He was telling us that it's one of the greatest days in his company's history.
And I didn't even realize he told me he'd not been in Victory Lane in Talladega
since with Dale Earnhardt.
So that was really, really cool just to see how excited and jacked up he was.
And then, you know, it was our third one of the eager.
So I got to do some three for Dales with Johnny in Victory Lane at Talladega.
Yeah, this, it was a perfect day.
And yeah, I mean, like you said, going into this round of eight, you know, I looked
at Vegas and I looked at Martinsville.
And even yesterday, the whole goal was just to try to come out of there above
the cut line and then go control what I felt like I could control at Martinsville.
But yeah, to win there is even better.
When you look at, when you look at the situation now, you've won at
Talladega, obviously you want to go to Martinsville and do all you can do.
But how does the attention during the week shift and change now?
Have you guys had that conversation yet?
Very, very briefly this last night, you know, we're still going to
send Martinsville, you know, this week just to try to, you know, see what we
can do and learn, obviously even for next year.
But yeah, we're certainly, you know, shift some of our focus to
Phoenix this week, you know, our sim time at Martinsville will be
very, very limited compared to what we will do at Phoenix.
And yeah, just absolutely maximizing everything we can for Phoenix.
I mean, we're probably running additional, I don't know, 10, 15 hours
probably, I mean, who knows?
But yeah, we're definitely putting in a lot of extra effort just trying
to go to Phoenix and be best prepared we can be.
And yeah, hopefully it'll be enough.
Talk to me about your mindset.
You start the year and you come into a new team, new organization,
new people, new everything, you learn the processes of everything
that's going on, you go and you get yourself into victory lane
for the third time now, you have to deal with the pressure of the
playoffs and now you're going to take the next step in dealing with
the pressure of the playoff race at the cup level.
What has that process been like for you mentally to adapt to not
trying to survive as a driver, to knowing that you're a winner
and you're in the cup series to hopefully stay for a long time
and know that you go to the racetrack every week now with an
opportunity to win?
That is a massive transition from where you started the year to
where you are and where you are as a driver.
It definitely is.
You know, I would say that, you know, the playoffs have not
been stressful, pressure packed at all.
The beginning of the season was the most pressure I feel like
I've ever been under in my life, you know, just all the way
up truthfully till Pocono when we won.
I just the weight of the world literally felt like it lifted off
my shoulders when I finally won at Pocono just because when you
came to JGR, like you're expected to win.
You have to win.
You know, if you're not winning, you're not going to have a
job, you know, at any other race team.
And yeah, when I won Pocono, I felt like literally the weight
of the world was lifted off my shoulders.
And since that day, you know, I've kind of just had
this mindset, you know, shift as we started running better.
You know, I went from, you know, occasionally running in the
top five at the beginning of the year to then a little more
consistently, and then we were running, you know, top two and
three seemed like every single weekend.
And I became just one of the guys that's occasionally up
front to kind of consistently up front.
And yeah, I mean, now I go to the racetrack every single
weekend with the intention that I can go there and win the
race. And it's very similar to, I would say 2020
and Xfinity, where I feel like if I just go to the
racetrack and do my job and execute, I'm going to have a
shot to win the race.
And that's a really fun feeling to have, you know, when you
can go to the racetrack every single weekend, no matter
road course, short track, intermediate, super speedway
and know that you have a shot to win the race at the
cup level.
And that's something that, you know, I didn't necessarily
feel the last four or five years of my career.
So just trying to, you know, enjoy the moment because
it could all change, you know, at any point, you know,
JGR could go on a downswing.
You know, obviously we hope that doesn't happen, but
we see it time and time again.
So just trying to take advantage of it, you know,
certainly, you know, I went from just trying to be one
of those guys.
Now I feel like I'm one of those guys and it's that
confidence and everything that comes along with that has
been a huge shift, you know, for sure.
When you look at the standings right now, there's,
you know, if it went today, you'd have three JGR
cars in the championship four.
Have you ever thought about how you guys are going to
manage that internally?
That's quite the feat for the company, but, you know,
it's winter take all in that situation.
That would be fun to watch and probably as stressful as you
could, as much stress as you could ever put on Joe Gibbs
in one situation, having three cars racing for the
championship.
Have you thought about that at all?
I mean, yeah, I've thought about it a little bit.
I mean, it's certainly possible, you know,
honestly, I don't think it'll feel, you know,
from my standpoint, I don't think it'll feel any
different than what it does every other week, because
that's the one thing I've kind of learned at JGR is
like every single weekend, a lot of the time, if I'm
going to win the race, I'm racing my teammates for
the win.
So I mean, yeah, there's more at stake, I guess,
with the championship, but, you know, I still have
to go beat the same guys.
And, you know, we do get a lot of, I guess,
practice racing each other for wins and big,
big situations.
So, yeah, I don't think it'll really change a whole
lot, you know, at least from my side, I don't
think it will, you know, it'll be a little
unique, I guess, just within the team side of
things, you know, the crew chiefs and stuff,
you know, obviously, we all can see what each
other are doing and set up wise with practice
and everything.
I think that part would be probably a little
unique.
But yeah, hopefully we can all three get there.
It would definitely be a huge feat for the
company.
And yeah, hopefully if, you know, if all three
of us get there, then at least hopefully
one of us is the guy that walks away with it all.
When you go to Phoenix, for me, when I went to
Phoenix in those championship four scenarios,
it was like just a totally different process
because you've got people that want to go to
the race, you've got family, you've got to
be there days early.
Have you been in a situation before where
you're racing for a championship or a
moment where you have to just totally abort
all the planning that you've done in the
past for a particular race, knowing that
you're going to, because it's not the same.
I know people will try to tell you the same.
I've been in a situation, it's not the same
because you just, there's way more to manage.
Have you been in a situation like that where
you've had to kind of get out of your
normal routine to do something like you'll
have to do at Phoenix?
Not really.
You know, even in Xfinity, you know, it was
2020, so it was COVID year, so it was
different.
You know, people aren't even really allowed
in their garages still.
So, you know, I didn't have a lot of
people there, even when I raced for that, but
the only thing I feel like I could even
somewhat compare it to is just, you know,
Indianapolis race weekend, just because
I go up early, you know, I spend time
with all my family and friends, you know,
it's going to be still way different than that.
You know, and even just how the week will go,
you know, I got to leave Wednesday
versus leaving on a Friday or Saturday,
and, you know, just even the flight
going out there with, you know,
three little ones is going to be stressful in itself.
So, yeah, I mean, it'll definitely be
different from that standpoint.
You know, just trying to manage all of that.
Yeah, it'll be different.
You know, truthfully, I'm glad that it's
going to be chaos, you know, and have all
those people there.
You know, that means you're obviously
an incredible opportunity, right?
And they wouldn't want to go and support
me if I didn't have that opportunity.
So, I'm thankful for that, but yeah,
it'll be different.
But truthfully, I think I would really
have it that way.
You know, if I was just by myself
or, you know, sitting there all day
or all weekend, just me and the team,
like, I feel like I would think about it
too much where, because all my friends
and family are going, it'll kind of
help distract me to a certain extent.
And, you know, everybody's kind of
different in that sense.
But for me, I feel like that'll
probably be better.
All right, last question.
Who's more intense on you?
Gabe Hart, Chris Gabe Hart, or James Small?
That's easy.
That's James all day long.
Okay.
I mean, Gabe Hart can be intense,
but there's not a more intense man
than James Small.
I mean, I said it the other night,
my press conference, like, I'm legit
scared of James.
He just terrifies me.
And I think that's what's made
our pairing so unique and so good.
It's just we are so different.
And it's two just polar opposites.
You know, I'm very, very laid back,
kind of calm, chill about everything
and James is very high intensity
about everything.
And we just kind of mellow each other out.
Like I need somebody that kind of
pokes me along and keeps me going.
And, you know, in those chaotic moments,
I can kind of be that voice of reason
and that calming for the team.
So, yeah, I'd spend a lot of fun
getting to work with James.
Obviously, I see what all the fans
say and stuff in the past
when I was racing against them.
And he gets so much flack
that is so undeserved.
That guy is the hardest-working guy
in the garage, I can guarantee it.
And I'm just super thankful
and appreciative that I'm
the one lucky driver that gets to work with him.
Well, I'm super happy for you, man.
You have put the time, the effort
and everything into putting yourself
in a position to race
for a Cup Series championship.
And I wish you nothing but the best of luck.
And we'll all be watching.
Yeah, buddy, I appreciate it.
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