NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: CHAMPIONSHIP

November 6, 2021

David Wilson

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the president of TRD, David Wilson, as the championship-winning manufacturer for Toyota.

We'll take questions for David.

Q. Two for two. I'm wondering how you're feeling. Now maybe three for three.

DAVID WILSON: Well, this sport, it's so hard to just live in the moment. I am always challenged by trying to take a measure of time to appreciate when you have a measure of success. That's tonight.

Did not expect us to be here tonight. We had long odds, obviously, and it wasn't just having three out of four last night and one out of four tonight.

What a crazy night, incredible, exciting. I'm a little inarticulate at the moment. Ask me a couple more questions, I'll get better (smiling).

Q. What is it like to see a driver win when you know he's not going to be in your camp?

DAVID WILSON: Well, I tell you what. The very first emotion and priority for us is to celebrate Daniel Hemric. He is probably one of the most least polarizing champions our sport has seen. He is such a good guy. We have wanted so badly to help bring him into winner's circle all season.

When we found out he was not staying, that pressure, that desire only amplified. We came so close this year. Of course, the irony of this year is that darn 54 super won so many races and caused Daniel I think a couple of second-place finishes.

I'll share something. We're up onstage here just a few minutes ago with Daniel. After the pictures, he pulled all the TRD guys aside and said, Listen, I want to tell you that you made me better. I am a better person, I am a better driver because of this partnership, what you've showed me, the tools, the coaching.

Are you kidding me? What a great, great guy. Just happy for him. Just so happy for him. Wish him well. Hope this catapults him to that next level, I well and truly do, irrespective of what car he's driving.

Q. The crew chiefs were in here yesterday, and the topic of conversation was about the end of the Gen-6 era. Chris Gabehart was pretty eloquent about how we're saying goodbye to art essentially. You're a car guy. What are your thoughts on sort of the end of the artisan phase of stockcars?

DAVID WILSON: It's not lost on any of us that have been laboring with this car, with this great Gen-6 car. That car was one of the best. Once we brought some real styling to the Cup garage, that was for the OEMs one of the most important, significant advances that this sport has seen.

Obviously underneath that car there's a lot going on. Early on in the conversations about where we should head as an industry, admittedly we dragged our heels. We weren't 100% onboard because we knew that the margins that we play in were going to contract significantly.

All of that certainly goes to I think amplify our desire to have a mic drop tomorrow night and say goodbye in a proper fashion. I am not into numerology, but it just so happens that our previous run of championships have all happened on odd years, '15, '17, '19. We've never, to my knowledge, won the Truck and Xfinity together. So just to have a shot to sweep is awe-inspiring. It's almost incomprehensible.

We all know how hard it is, how incredibly hard it is, to win at any level of the NASCAR national series.

THE MODERATOR: David, congratulations and good luck tomorrow.