NASCAR CUP SERIES: FREEWAY INSURANCE 500

October 18, 2026

Billy Scott

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Billy Scott, crew chief of the No. 45 Toyota.

Talk to us about the day, just in how you guys could move around, up and down.

BILLY SCOTT: Yeah, it's one of the shorter races, but seemed very eventful today.

It started out, we were not terrific. We were kind of maintaining there, knew track position is important as always. Worked on it some in stage two.

By the time we went through the green flag cycle in stage two, we felt pretty good about it. Small tweaks on it late. Kind of one at a time. Some people eliminating themselves from contention up there. Able to get a few on restarts and some of the shorter runs.

In the end he was the first one to get there. Knew it was going to be exciting the way that played out with everybody pretty much being out of tires, some staying out, some on right, some on four. We kind of knew that restart was going to make a big difference. He executed well.

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

Q. In situations like this, the way the Chase is, the last six months, how much of a challenge is it for a crew chief to keep everybody motivated?

BILLY SCOTT: Yeah, it certainly is tough to keep that all in perspective. It always is. It was when we were going successful, too. I think we had to have the same discipline of going to the racetrack every week with the same hunger and work ethic. Whether we had success last week or finished last last week, it really doesn't matter when you get there. Once the metric is behind you for qualifying, that's about the only effect you can carry over week to week.

It's such a long, grueling season that you have to collectively have that reset. I think our team this week everybody came together really well. Ironic timing that we had a lot of feeling that we left last week in Charlotte. We expected to contend the whole time up front. Felt sort of mediocre. I think we challenged each other to rise to the occasion this week. I think everybody did.

Q. Now that you are within range of a championship, how, if at all, does your plan change for Talladega? If you were going to that race 90 points out, you're going Hail Mary. Now you have to weigh risk/reward while trying to be there at the end of the race.

BILLY SCOTT: Yeah, probably at that point that it's close. We've kind of said all along, once we get out of Talladega, we'll assess where we're at, figure out how we want to race Martinsville and Homestead strategically, if that's needed.

I think our best bet is to go win. Certainly you don't want to put yourself at risk too early with the stages. The way the rules, format has changed, it's encouraging racing the whole time. The best shot is to be up front all day.

I really think the win definitely gets us closer. Puts us back in the conversation probably with three to go. I think our intent will be the same thing. We've said all along, wins are going to matter the most. I think whoever has the most wins is going to be a good chance of being in contention when we get to Homestead.

I still think we need to get one more to feel like we go into Homestead with a good shot.

Q. The decision to go two tires was a gamble that paid off. After the incident happened to Kyle Larson, did you tell Tyler what was going on or did you keep that in the background?

BILLY SCOTT: No, didn't mention it at all. Somebody did bring it up to me on our intercom. I didn't even really realize. There's so many up there that are within striking distance of that. So many ups and downs. Everybody had issues. You expected him to have an issue at some point, whether it was this week, next week, Homestead, whatever.

I don't think that's a huge factor. It didn't play into any of our stuff either. We were just focused on winning.

Q. With track temp today, how much did that impact the two tire decision?

BILLY SCOTT: It didn't really. Probably more of the laps on tires, the situation we were in with running out of tires. We knew we were putting scuffs on there regardless. Thought it was a good opportunity to try to grab the lead, kind of keep things in our control.

We debated about the four. If we came out with four and were behind others, we would ultimately have to pass more cars. Thankfully it paid off.

Q. When you're looking ahead to Talladega and Martinsville, from a strategy perspective, how do you manage that now that you've closed the gap? Do you play it more conservative and let chaos ensue or do you continue to try to attack?

BILLY SCOTT: I think we're going to stay on attack mode. If it was maybe one competitor or maybe two that we were looking at contending with, it might be a different story. With so many people right there close together, every one of them are excellent, right? They could all be champions.

I think you have to stay aggressive. If we can ultimately get the win, that's going to go a long way.

THE MODERATOR: Billy, thanks for your time.

BILLY SCOTT: Thank you.