NASCAR CUP SERIES: VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD

August 15, 2021

A.J. Allmendinger

Matt Kaulig

Press Conference

An Interview with:

Q. We're here with Matt, we're here with AJ. Just explain it, tell me about it. Explain it.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: I don't know what just happened here. Matt, we just won at Indy in the Cup Series.

MATT KAULIG: In the Cup Series.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: That was an insane race. I can't -- the curbing, we were 17th with nine, eight to go, and I was like, all right, maybe we get a top 10, and luckily we've got a team owner that says trophy hunting. He doesn't care if the car is wrecked, bring it back on the wrecker or you go win the race.

Once I got close enough to the front, I'm like, well, I'm either going to win or I'm probably going to crash. That's what it was all about, get Hyperice in Victory Lane finally. It was just amazing.

Q. Matt, we've been talking about you, mostly in the Xfinity Series for six years now. You make the announcement you're going Cup racing full-time next year, also, but what does this do for your organization?

MATT KAULIG: Well, it's huge. We've been using this whole Cup Series -- we've been using the 10 races or so that we're doing this year almost as a practice for going full-time Cup racing next year.

Just to get a win -- and people have been asking me since we won this thing 20 minutes ago and saying that I'm not surprised that we did that. When you have AJ Allmendinger in the car at a road course and all the men and women at Kaulig Racing that do such a great job of preparing the race cars and everything that everybody does, it's not shocking that we're standing up here.

It's pretty surreal standing on this platform, but just super proud of AJ. We brought him here, what, three years ago just to do exactly this right here, and we actually have done it. So thank you.

Q. Listen, I know this place is special to you. It really is. As I walk down pit road and after we did pre-race, you're standing there talking to Roger Penske, so I've got a two-part question. Talking to him and winning here at this racetrack, what does that mean? But at the same time, 24 hours ago you were an awful load, dude. Explain that emotional roller coaster, too.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: I was telling Roger that I love him as always but I was not a big fan of him at that time because they beat us yesterday. I was disappointed. I was disappointed the way I drove early in the race, disappointed the way the strategy worked out and we never got a shot really at the win.

We all know this is what we love and hate about racing. It can just bury you in the ground and then you have moments like this where you just forget about every bad emotion, every low moment you've ever had because all it takes is one victory like this, especially at Indy.

To me this is the biggest place in the world. If you told me I have to win at one place, this is where I want to win. It erases all that bad feeling, and this is why I come here and do this.

Q. As you got ready for what was the final restart, what was in your mind as the plan? You've got Denny Hamlin, one of the best road racers, too, right in front of you. You know what Chase Briscoe wanted to do. What kind of plan did you have in your mind going down there?

AJ ALLMENDINGER: Well, I knew Denny was on old tires, and I didn't know if Chase was on older tires or not. I was trying to be aggressive. In my mind if I could somehow clear them and get them racing, I can drive away because I have better tires than they do.

I tried. Denny put a great -- like we all would, put a great block on it. Him and Chase started banging, then Denny kind of used me up, which I would have done the same thing.

So at that point I was like, all right, let's settle in here. They told me the 14 had a penalty, and then I guess he got in the back of Denny and the seas parted at that point, and then it was like, run like hell because the 12 and everybody else, Kyle Larson is behind us.

I mean, I'm at a loss -- it doesn't happen often. I'm at a loss for words.

Q. I know you've got an Xfinity trophy case at your place. Do you have a Cup trophy case or is that what's on the agenda this week?

MATT KAULIG: No, I haven't built it yet, but I'm going to have to get on it. So this is now as an organization, this is I guess our first Cup trophy but our 11th NASCAR trophy, and so super proud, super appreciative of that. We were talking about Indy, I used to come here as a kid watching -- but it was for the Indy 500. But this is a really special place for me.

Really appreciative of AJ and everybody at Kaulig Racing and just thanks to all of our partners and hyper ice and Leaf Filter and Leaf Home and just everybody that backs us. Really appreciate it.