NASCAR CUP SERIES: DOLLAR TREE 301

August 23, 2026

Jonathan Hassler

Michael Nelson

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Michael Nelson, president of NASCAR for Team Penske, and our race-winning crew chief Jonathan Hassler.

Congratulations, gentlemen. Jonathan, can you talk about race strategy, how the race went for you guys today.

JONATHAN HASSLER: Yeah, our car was really strong all day. Kind of really showed our strength in stage two. Got to the lead, felt like we could kind of maintain it really with the pace we had. Had a pretty big gap back to second, third.

Had to be a little bit aggressive to that point to kind of keep track position. Kind of typical of New Hampshire. As everybody will know, sure will be some of the questions, we had a bit of an issue in the pits. Honestly that kind of put us on a little bit of a different path and position to take two tires and get the lead late in the race.

THE MODERATOR: Team Penske has been strong these last few weeks. Talk about what that means heading into the Chase here in two weeks.

MICHAEL NELSON: Yeah, it obviously gives us a lot of great momentum. These have been some strong tracks for us. We're trying to close it off next week at Daytona.

We've had an unbelievable last few weeks. So much fun back at the race shop. We've had a great time with it. Yeah, looking forward to Daytona next week. Really appreciative of what we've been able to do these last few weeks.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Why is Penske so good on these style tracks year after year?

JONATHAN HASSLER: Yeah, I really wish I knew. I really wish there was a magic formula. I think there's not honestly. We changed a lot of things from a year ago when we won the race. We knew we had to be better. I think that's just kind of the mentality of the whole group.

The guys do a good job testing. I think we have a few tests with Ford, we had a test at North Wilkesboro earlier in the year that gave us some direction. The overall balance from the whole group that each and every team contributed and trying to be a little bit better every week.

MICHAEL NELSON: Yeah, I like what he said, so...

No, I mean, you guys see it. I think you see guys that do well at certain tracks, certain manufacturers. We'll take it. Obviously we need to be a little better at some of the other tracks. We got to do what we can here at places we have shown speed, try to capitalize.

Q. Where do you feel like your mile-and-a-half track program has improved? Do you feel it's going to be much better in the Chase?

MICHAEL NELSON: Yeah, that's the plan. I'd say we rolled some things out, right, this year. Definitely have been licking our wounds after a few of those mile-and-a-half tracks.

We'll do the best we can, try to piece everything together. Trying everything through those tracks to be better. Hopefully we'll have the right combination come Chase time.

Q. On the broadcast they said this was the ninth pit stop miscue this year by the 12 team. Where is the level of concern?

JONATHAN HASSLER: Yeah, I think I'd be curious to know what those statistics are from other teams, as well. It's really competitive on pit road. If you're going to have any speed, you're going to have these sort of miscues.

With the speed that we've had, I think our goal has certainly been to eliminate those. Even if we give up a little bit of speed to do that, that's what we wanted.

But it's still going to happen. It happens to each of the best teams. We're fortunate that we're fast enough and up front enough that everybody takes notice when it does happen.

Q. A question about the format of practice. Did the change in practice format help you? If so, how? Are there further changes you'd like to see to practice?

JONATHAN HASSLER: Man, I certainly think you've seen each of the teams, you pay attention, everybody approaches it a little bit differently. I think within our group, we've had a pretty consistent approach.

I think, yeah, maybe it does help us a little bit. But it's the same for everybody.

As far as whether I'd like to see more changes, I don't think about that too much, to be honest. We play with the rules that we're given and try to do the best we can with what's in front of us.

Q. What does it mean to you as a team to get a second win here?

JONATHAN HASSLER: Yeah, I think to win back to back at North Wilkesboro -- sorry, New Hampshire, excuse me, it's great (smiling). Anytime you can win at a track over and over again, it just shows the strength of the whole organization. I think the garage is always moving. You'll see certain teams, certain cars, that have runs of success, then they fade a little bit.

To be able to produce two years in a row, you just had to sort of evolve and get better. Testament to the whole group.

Q. Ryan has become a fan favorite in NASCAR. Today the fans showed their support. How much do you enjoy coming to New England, feeling that fan support?

MICHAEL NELSON: Yeah, I wanted to jump on that last question and say as a team member, New Hampshire was where I won my first race back in 2002. It's always been a special place to me because I got my first Cup points win here.

We love coming back and love the area. Always have a lot of fun. We've won a lot of races here, too. It's been a great track for us.

As far as Blaney goes, he's such a cool guy. He's a lot of fun. He's what you see in the interviews. I don't see how fans can't be attracted to that, want to see more of it.

Such a talented race car driver, and we're happy to be able to provide him with the car to get it done today.

Q. Early on in the race, how was your tire wear? Should NASCAR stop holding your hands in terms of strategy when you can go to dry tires?

JONATHAN HASSLER: Yeah, I think obviously there's been some changes to the protocol with rain procedures and whatnot, with NASCAR sort of stepping away from mandating when we put tires on, letting us control rain tires on our own.

Honestly I think that's probably a good move. I think it puts a lot in the driver's hands in terms of not abusing their tires, knowing this could be a long run, I could have to save my stuff. Those scenarios put on some pretty good races.

As far as how we attack the rain, I was certainly happy with we really just maintained. We didn't go forward, we didn't go backwards. We maintained and were able to reset.

It's a huge change. Every time we have the opportunity, we're learning a little bit more about what it takes. You have a car that's good in the dry, what do you need to do in the wet. For us to maintain, we checked the box and were able to be competitive once the race dried out.

Q. Had it stayed wet conditions from start to finish, do you think four sets would have made the whole race?

JONATHAN HASSLER: Looking at our sets, we definitely had some more tire life than maybe I expected. I think we were all fortunate, all the crew chiefs, we had a meeting this morning with Brad Moran. Talked about the scenario we were in. Everybody knew the weather was coming. Nobody was really concerned with the number of sets we had. In a different scenario, we're definitely going to need more tires.

Brad and the whole group would have made a different decision if it looked like the rain was going to stay around.

Q. You mentioned the miscue on pit road. Do you feel that ended up being a blessing in disguise because you weren't head-to-head with Berry?

JONATHAN HASSLER: I think it definitely helped us get track position the way the cautions fell. So yeah, I think maybe it was a little bit of a blessing in disguise. If it doesn't happen that way, I think we'll still right there in the hunt. It definitely gave us the opportunity to recover.

Q. Penske-wide, the other kind of race within the race is Austin is in a precarious spot. After a difficult qualifying run, he ran pretty well. How much of that is a reflection of the teamwork of the whole team, and how much of that is a testament to Austin, his team?

MICHAEL NELSON: I'd say it's both. They did a good job of executing today. Needed to have a decent day. Had some setbacks at times. Didn't qualify the way they wanted to. Had some times in the race where they weren't happy with the car.

Yeah, I mean, we all work together as a team, do everything we can to get all our cars up front. Yeah, they had a good day today in terms of points.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations. Thanks for your time.