NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 12, 2026

Tyler Allen

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the winning crew chief Tyler Allen.

Tyler, incredible finish out there. Walk us through your call to get the track position for Ty and your feelings on winning today's race.

TYLER ALLEN: Yeah, it's a pretty incredible feeling to be perfectly honest. On that last green flag run, we had been discussing for a majority of that stint what we were going to do if the caution came out any given lap.

As the laps closed down, having watched a couple of the races, knowing there was very little falloff, it was our preference to stay out. I had a short discussion with Ty. He was on board. We committed and got the win.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open the floor for questions.

Q. The relationship that you and Ty have, how has he kind of grown behind the wheel. Even when you were kind of coaching him, make it live, it was a calm, methodical approach. How have you changed that relationship over the last however long it's been?

TYLER ALLEN: I think it's a combination of both of us sort of maturing in our roles. Had one year of Xfinity, O'Reilly, crew chief experience. But then to take on a young driver like Ty, it took us a while to get to know each other. That was no surprise to me.

He can get frustrated in there. I tend to be a little more level. If he's out there complaining about the race car, I'm trying to figure out what to do to fix the race car.

But I think he's matured a lot. At the end of last year and at the beginning of this year, he's shown a lot of maturity. Our relationship has been good. The cars have been fast. That always helps.

Then to get this win, I think it kind of cements us together. We've got each other's backs and we've got a good thing going.

Q. To make the call, whether it works or not, that trust and faith you have in him, he has in you...

TYLER ALLEN: Yeah, we've had a lot of discussions about how last year went, how we wanted to go into 2026. A lot of that was about having each other's backs.

I'm not going to make the right call every time. He might speed on pit road. We need to be okay on that and focus forward.

I think that's what we've done really good this year, is focus forward. Everything is out the windshield. I think that relationship has grown over the past couple races. Really excited to get this win.

Q. With all of the distractions and other stuff going on surrounding the 54 team, what have the conversations been like with Ty about that and about trying to a void the distractions?

TYLER ALLEN: Honestly, the distractions have been pretty minimal. We're focused on the 54 car and the 2026 season. I think this points format suits us well. Takes a little bit of that pressure off to win, but adds the pressure to be consistent. I think that's what we've done so well this year.

As for the outside noise, it's just noise, nothing for us. Focused on the race car.

Q. Is there a tipping point on the data and analytics when it says we're staying out or is it purely do what they don't do?

TYLER ALLEN: Not quite that simple. We were discussing over that green flag stint what we would do at any given point. As the laps wound down, you get the caution, you know you're going to have seven, eight, nine caution laps for 15-lap run. I'd much rather have control of the race than be trying to go catch somebody. So that was really the biggest factor in making that decision.

Q. A lot will be made of Ty's growth. For you last year, did you learn anything about yourself in the transition, changing of roles, watching the team from an outside standpoint? Anything positively that you gained out of that?

TYLER ALLEN: Yeah, I mean, it was a character-building kind of year. We were really struggling with performance. A lot of stuff going on in the background that no one really knows.

But we were focused on building the program. It wasn't going to be something that got better immediately. I'm a young crew chief, he's a young driver. The team was a little bit after mess at the beginning of the year, but we were building. I think that started to show up at the end of last year, the last eight races or so.

I think this past month and a half has built confidence in all of us, me especially on the box, Ty in the car, that we can perform at the level that JGR should perform at. So to get this win is pretty cool.

Q. What does it say about a driver who does get put out there on old tires to hold off the guys with the tires?

TYLER ALLEN: Yeah, it's not our typical call, to be perfectly honest. We like to put Ty on attack. I didn't think we quite had the car potential to go and pass those guys with tires. So I'd rather have him be able to establish a gap, which we really didn't get. Blaney was pressing pretty hard. The 5 was obviously close.

It says a lot about his skill behind the wheel, his craft. He had to put together a couple perfect corners to get that done.

Q. Who needed this more, you or him, for confidence and for validation? Do you feel like either of you needed validation? Does this win provide any of that for either of you?

TYLER ALLEN: Yeah, I think Ty needed this. We both needed this. We're a team. We both needed this confidence boost. I've been saying forever when he gets one, he's going to get a lot.

It's just huge for the team, his confidence. It's been a really good start to the year.

Q. Christopher Bell was in here yesterday talking about what a joy Ty is to be around. He said his input in debriefs is starting to contribute to the company. When have you seen that turnaround for you guys, feeling like we're contributing, we've hit on things with our program that is helping everybody else?

TYLER ALLEN: This past five weeks has been really good. We noticed more questions from the teammates, asking sort of our philosophy. As for Ty's feedback, it's something we've been working on. I think stringing together these top fives has given him the confidence to speak up in the meetings, when before we were running 24th, didn't feel like he had a lot to contribute.

He gives really good feedback. It's been really productive working with the other three teams.

Q. I don't know if you would agree, there's no such thing as flipping a switch in racing. For Ty, when you talk about his maturity, he gets upset like any driver behind the wheel, but when was the 'switch flipped'? It seems now he's not snowballing during races.

TYLER ALLEN: We talked a lot in the off-season about how to approach 2026 season. He's doing his dirt racing. He just loves driving race cars. He wants it to be fun. I said, We're going to make this year fun, then.

It's been a huge focus of this team. It's a really good group. Everyone gets along. We can go to his bus after practice one day, have a couple benches and hang out. He's having fun right now.

A loose, fun Ty is a fast Ty.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Good luck next week in Kansas.

TYLER ALLEN: Thank you very much.