NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 1, 2021

Wally Brown

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us. We really appreciate you spending a few minutes. Congratulations on having two cars from Joe Gibbs Racing headed to the Championship 4 this weekend in Phoenix.

Tell us a little bit from your position on how you guys will approach this week in the shop.

WALLY BROWN: Well, I mean, this week is kind of pretty much over actually already. The haulers leave tomorrow. Most of the preparation has been going on for weeks now. Just hoping to at least get one car in the Final 4. We've been preparing for probably five, six weeks.

THE MODERATOR: We'll now go to questions.

Q. Wally, obviously Martin won this race in the spring. Would you say the cars are fairly similar to what you brought in the spring or have things even developed this year that they're not that similar?

WALLY BROWN: Yeah, I mean, you know how this sport works. You're always working to get better. To say the cars are the same is not true. We've learned things. There's been other rule updates. We've had to make soft changes and things like that.

They're never the exact same.

Q. Do you think having won there in the spring gives you an advantage at all?

WALLY BROWN: I don't know if necessarily an advantage. I think we do have some good notes and we do feel good about it. I feel like we made a good point to do a lot of work after that first race, prepare for some things for the fall to be prepared.

I feel good about it, but also I felt good about this race last year heading into it, and we didn't fare out too well (smiling).

Q. Joe Gibbs Racing has had multiple cars in the Final 4 many years now. I think this is the third time. You're going against Hendrick Motorsports. First time they've had multiple cars in this round. Does that give you any advantage how to manage this with two cars competing for the championship at the same time?

WALLY BROWN: Yeah, I think experience is always good, right? Someone told me today JGR is the only team to actually make it to the Final 4 like every year or something like that. That's pretty cool to hear.

I think every year we go through this process, we learn a little bit. In some ways having multiple cars is good, but in some ways it's bad, right? You only have so many resources. You can only put those to so much use. If you had four cars in there, you're going to dilute your resources.

It's got its pluses and minuses.

Q. With the 18 not making it to this round, do you anticipate any changes with the pit crews or anything, taking somebody off that team and moving it to one of the Final 4 teams?

WALLY BROWN: No, I don't anticipate any changes for this weekend, no.

Q. Specific to Denny, he's been in this position before both in this format and then in 2010 in a different format. Why do you think he can't get that next level?

WALLY BROWN: Obviously there's a lot of circumstances that lead up to winning a championship, right? He's been in the position a bunch of times, like you said. I think everything just has to click on that day.

I think there's things that are up to him, things up to the team, the pit crew. There's so many variables. You just have to have that day for it to all work out.

I don't necessarily think it's a Denny thing, I think it's a team thing.

Q. What can the team do to be all around come Sunday?

WALLY BROWN: I mean, number one, learn from your mistakes, right? We've tried to evaluate all the mistakes we've made in the past, try not to repeat those. That's step one. Everyone just work as hard as they can, try to put the best foot forward.

I think we're prepared. They're still working on the cars a little bit now, but I think we'll be ready this weekend for sure.

Q. He's a team owner now. Has that changed anything as it applies to Denny as a Joe Gibbs Racing driver either good or bad? Maybe he brings a different perspective to the table.

WALLY BROWN: I think, if anything, it's been a positive this year. I think that he gets to see both sides. When you're just a driver, you just kind of know what you're dealing with that week, what you have against you. When you're a team owner, I think he realizes the amount of work and effort.

Not that you don't necessarily appreciate your team, but I think he realizes, like, these guys, they're after it, they're working all the time. I think he stepped it up, as well. If they're going to put that much effort in, I'm going to as well. I think that has really shown on the track. He's been really consistent and really fast every week. So I think it's been good.

Q. Going to Phoenix, 750. Denny last year made clear it was a tall task with that package, you were better at 550. This year he said it's reversed. Do you feel more confident that you'll have something to contend with at Phoenix?

WALLY BROWN: Yeah, definitely. Like he said, I think we got beat so bad at Phoenix last year, we put all our focus on that for this year. As a result, we're not as good on the 550s. That just shows how competitive this is. If you don't work on one aspect of your racing game, you're going to fall behind.

Luckily we were able to get two cars in, so I think that extra effort hopefully will pay off this weekend.

Q. When you think about Joe Gibbs Racing versus Hendrick Motorsports, how do you handicap it? What's the strength of you guys and them? What's the flip side of that, the weaknesses, if there are any?

WALLY BROWN: It's kind of interesting. Usually a lot of times JGR might be the favorite going into a championship race. I think we're definitely the underdogs. We have to beat the guy, Kyle Larson, that has won so many races, been so dominant this year. Then you have Chase, the reigning champion at this track. We're definitely the underdog.

From our perspective, to answer your question I guess, we just don't have the raw speed they've had this year, to be honest. We're trying to figure that out. They've just beaten us, just faster everywhere.

I think for us, we're going to have to be able to do our best job, run a very clean race, have good pit stops, execute well. Hopefully we can run with them.

Q. You referenced the focus on the 750 tracks this season. Was that easier to do this year because of the parts freeze, last year of the car? Did that allow you to be able to focus more on the 750 and maybe not lose as much as what you would have lost in a typical year on the 550s?

WALLY BROWN: I think that's a fair statement to make. At the same time even with the rule freeze and things like that, you're always trying to find every little advantage. It might be a setup, a little gain in the wind tunnel or whatever it maybe.

Certainly you're not making radical changes. I think as the field closes up, everybody is so close, it just takes a little bit to get that edge.

Q. What have been the challenges in maximizing the car, going for a championship with multiple vehicles, but preparing for the NextGen?

WALLY BROWN: I mean, that's a great question. We talk about that a lot because you have your long-term objectives and your short-term. In my position I've always worked with the race teams. We've just kind of focused on the week-to-week stuff, the next race or the next races three weeks out.

Fortunately we have a great engineering staff. Our production staff, they're kind of more focused on the long-term.

I think you do have to split up those resources. It's a balance game, right? You don't want to put all effort into this, then really struggle with the new car.

I think we're kind of mixed. I think we might be a little behind on our work with the new car, but hopefully we can win the championship and then catch up.

Q. You were talking about comparing the drivers. Hendrick has everything going for them right now, two really young drivers. On the other side of that, would you put up the veteran experience against the young guns?

WALLY BROWN: Yeah, I mean, that's a great question as well. I feel like if we weren't going to have practice and everything else this weekend, maybe it might give us a little bit of an edge. But I think with the practice session, qualifying, I think it's going to be kind of back -- I think everyone is going to get their fair chance to work their cars out, get the setup the way they want it.

I think it's going to be pretty fair that way.

Q. Do you think there's going to be any team orders going on with the two other drivers for each of the organizations, a Chevy situation ganging up against the Toyotas on Sunday?

WALLY BROWN: Yeah, I mean, I don't really think so. I think that's something we pretty much stayed away from. I know NASCAR in the past has talked to us about that. It's not a speedway race. I just think that typically what you see in this race is the fastest cars are at the front. They kind of migrate there. It's one of those tracks where the cream will rise to the top.

I don't see that being any kind of issue.

Q. Are you spread a little more thin? Hendrick doesn't have to worry about the Xfinity championship, you guys do.

WALLY BROWN: Yeah, I mean, I think we have enough staffing that it's a separate issue. There's no negatives to that. In some ways it's a positive because we'll learn from their race, be able to debrief with those guys. If anything, it helps us a little bit.

THE MODERATOR: Wally, thank you so much for your time. Good luck this weekend in Phoenix.

WALLY BROWN: Thanks, appreciate it.