NASCAR CUP SERIES: BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE

September 19, 2026

Paul Wolfe

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're going to go ahead and start with our post-race press conference here at Bristol Motor Speedway after tonight's NASCAR Cup Series race with our race-winning crew chief Paul Wolfe.

Congratulations on that win. Obviously for the 22 team, you guys have had a pretty solid second half here in the season so far. Talk just a little bit about kind of coming into this race tonight and then really the opportunity to be able to come home with a win.

PAUL WOLFE: Yeah, like you said, we've had obviously a great end to, I guess, the regular season, if you will, and then we've started pretty strong here in the Chase.

If you kind of look at the first bit of races here, Darlington was just a solid performance for us. Obviously from where we were in the spring at Darlington. Quite an improvement and was a little bit of an unknown going into it, so nice to get a solid performance.

We knew last week was an opportunity week for us, scored a lot of stage points, obviously came up a little short of the win. So that was a little frustrating.

Then as we came to Bristol this weekend, it's kind of been an up-and-down track for us. We've run well, but we've also got lapped here as well. It was kind of a little bit of a wild card for us.

But as the race got rolling, we had pretty good speed in our car, was able to do some strategy to keep us out, score some obviously much-needed stage points there in Stage 1.

And what really showed the strength of our car, I think, was Stage 2 when we were able to drive back through the field to finish third in that stage to gain those points.

I knew there was a possibility we were going to get buried with the strategy we used in Stage 1 to win that stage. Didn't know that we would really be able to get back to third. That was very encouraging.

Then from that point on, it was just managing our race and keeping ourselves in position. Obviously didn't know that we were really in position to win, obviously, until those guys had issues. But thought we were going to get a good solid finish out of it.

As many points as wins are worth right now, that was a great win for us, and obviously keeps us in a good spot and feeling like we're still a contender for this championship.

Q. Could you imagine that you've won three of the last ten races, considering where you were this summer?

PAUL WOLFE: It's a little bit hard to believe, I guess. It just shows how strong this team really is. We're able to step up when there's a lot on the line, and we continue to show that.

Like I said, we were a little unsure of what we would have coming into this weekend. We were optimistic, obviously, but to be able to score all the stage points we did and win the race obviously was huge.

But regardless of the win or not, to be able to have the performance and the speed we had in our car was encouraging for me. Either way, it was going to keep us in the hunt.

Obviously we're probably sitting really good right now from a points perspective with the win, but either way, I think we've shown that whatever format it is, we're going to be a contender, and that's just because of the strength of our team.

Q. You're minus 16 points back going into three intermediate tracks in a row, which have not been your strong suit. Can this team win the championship?

PAUL WOLFE: Absolutely. I think we've proven that. Yes, we're coming up to three tracks that probably aren't our strongest and we wouldn't pick to go to if we had to choose, but I think what we've shown the first three races of this round is that we're capable of anything.

Like I said, I didn't think -- we all know how we ran at Darlington in the spring. We were two or three laps down running 33rd and we were able to turn that around to a solid performance.

I'm still optimistic that we can put together some solid performances on these intermediates. Are we going to have winning pace? I don't know.

I think there's been some updates, splitter updates and things to the rules since we've been on a lot of these mile-and-a-halfs. I think Indy is the highest speed track we've been on, and we were one of the fastest cars at the end of the race at Indy. That gives me a little bit of optimism that we can go to these mile-and-a-halfs and run in the top 5.

But we'll put our best foot forward and see what we get next week.

Q. Where do you need to be at points-wise, points-deficit wise leaving Charlotte going into a stretch of tracks to end the year that set up really, really well for you to feel like you've got a really strong chance?

PAUL WOLFE: Yeah, I think coming into it, we felt like we were going to need to score 40 points per race minimum was kind of what we had looked at. If you look at where we started these first -- started this Chase, we were, what, 70-something back I think you would say, and in three races we've all but closed the gap on that.

If you talk about where we need to be with those final three races, I don't know, somewhere in that range, I guess. It just goes to show you that when a team gets hot and they're able to win stages and run up front and win a race or two, you can close that gap pretty quick, maybe quicker than all of us anticipated when these playoffs started.

Yeah, I think we've got to just keep approaching each week like we have been and be as smart as we can about our preparation and then put together -- execute the race the best we can.

I think the guys have been doing a great job. Our pit road has been pretty solid. Hasn't been perfect, but it's been good enough, and those guys are continuing to work hard. We know how competitive pit road is on the pressure on those guys. Proud of their effort.

Ford continues to support us and give us all we need, so appreciate all that.

Q. Paul, I know you're not focused on this at the moment, but the energy of tonight's race felt a little different, especially in that final 100 laps. Did you notice that? Was there anything sort of building from the intensity on the racetrack in those last runs that added to some of the stuff that we saw late in that race?

PAUL WOLFE: I can't -- obviously it was very competitive. There was a lot of cars that were capable of winning. You have guys on a little bit different strategies here and there.

I think it was just good racing that we typically see at Bristol and what you would expect. The track had a bottom groove and a top groove, which was exciting to see. You could pass cars if you were faster. From that perspective, it was a racy track. There's a lot on the line, and obviously guys were pushing.

For me, we kind of just ran our race. I think Joey drove a great race, took what it gave him. We were good enough to be in contention, and that's all you can ask for.

Q. Obviously there were post-race fireworks between the 12 and the 77. That incident, though, the 12 kind of washed up right in front of Joey and it seemed like Joey almost got collected in that. What was your perspective on that near miss?

PAUL WOLFE: Yeah, it was close, and Coleman was calling him to go low and he couldn't even get low, and fortunately last minute Blaney slid down off the wall and we just shot the gap there.

It's close. It's what you expect at Bristol. There's always a little bit out of your control here, things you can get caught up in.

Fortunately we caught a nice break there not getting caught up in that. Like I said, I just thought we kind of ran a clean race and had good speed in our car and made the most of it, and Joey was able to capitalize at the end.

Just proud of what we've got going on right now. It's obviously a new format this year, and everyone is trying to learn kind of maybe what it takes to win or to stay in contention and score those points.

We're right there hanging in strong at the moment.

Q. Paul, you knew that competition caution was coming on lap 40. You left Joey out there and ultimately that gave you the stage win. How much thought had gone into that decision before the caution even waved, or was that a split-second decision?

PAUL WOLFE: No, probably more than it should have. The strategy side of it is something that I really enjoy. My team takes a lot of pride in getting those things right. As close as the field is these days, strategy is such a big part of being successful.

Obviously you need to have fast cars and those types of things and a driver that can execute, but there's a lot of situations that come up in these races, and trying to be the best we can at it.

There was a lot that went into it pre-race and trying to understand how the race is going to play out. I mean, this is also a track where we've seen with certain temperatures and whatnot where we've seen tires be kind of more of a talking point and can only run 30, 40 laps on a set of tires.

As you're talking through scenarios and trying to understand how we want to play the race out, we still don't really know until we get going, will this tire run 100 laps or will we see issues like we have in the past when the temperature is cool enough that the track doesn't take rubber and we're having to put tires on it every 40 or 50 laps.

Once we got going early in the race, we felt like it was -- the track was rubbering in well and we kind of stuck to our guns as far as -- that was kind of our gut call. As long as we had a car that was maintaining position towards the front that we felt like the right call was to stay out. It's nice when they work out that way.