CHARLOTTE, N.C— On Wednesday in the shadows of Glory Road at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, MBM Motorsports announced that Joey Gase would drive the No. 35 Toyota Supra in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
While running full-time, Gase will also have to race his way into the 61st Annual Daytona 500.
Following the announcement, Gase and Long were made available to the media. Here is what they had to say about the 2019 season:
Is this where you thought you were going to be in 2019?
Gase: I didn’t really know where I was going to be for sure. Last year, everyone in the world was telling me that I was going to the No. 32 car. I don’t know where they are always getting that information or telling me where I was going to go, but I am really excited to be here with Carl (Long) and be here in the No. 35 car in the Xfinity Series and the No. 66 car on the Cup side. Carl’s team has grown a lot over the last couple of years. With having something put together now instead of in the middle or at the start of the season is the great part of it. I think it will be really good and something that we can continue to grow on and have a good year.
How did you guys click? How did the conversations go? Did it seem kind of a natural fit?
Long: Over the last three to five years, Joey and I have always been parked close to each other in the garage area. Joey and I would be standing behind there at driver introductions. We’ve always have communicated and been friends with that relationship. As Joey was growing in his sponsorship and racing stuff was carrying on, it happened to be a fit for him this year. We’ve started with our Cup program two years ago. For him to be able to put together sponsorship packages along with our own to help us get to the racetrack because we pretty much race off whatever we have to spend. If all we have to spend is what NASCAR is paying us, then that is what we are racing off of. To be able to bring some sponsorship steps up our program. He doesn’t have to go shopping while he is running with one guy. When a sponsor comes along and he has a Cup race he can go do and now he has to find a team to go do it with, we are right here and have it all together. Hopefully at the end of the year, people will look at us and go, ‘wow, this team came to life and we weren’t expecting it.’ There are no middle class teams in racing. There are either the haves or the have nots. I think we are going to put ourselves in the goal where there is a middle class that is gaining on the upper guys. Don’t get me wrong, we cannot race on the lower end if we didn’t have associations with the big guys. They have parts that they mileage out that probably still have two to three races of life in them. We are able to purchase those at discounted prices. That is how we are able to offer a lot for a sponsor without having them break their budget to be involved in NASCAR.
Are you guys staying with the No. 66 on the Cup program?
Long: Yes. We will have the No. 66 on the Xfinity side as well. He will start the year where our No. 40 car finished last year on the points side. If it rains or we have something bad go wrong, we will still be in the race at Daytona unless some unforeseen circumstances. We have a cushion to fall back on.
What is the support that Toyota will be bringing for the organization?
Long: We have had conversations with Toyota. They are waiting for me to get back in touch with them with our crew chief lineup. Joey and I have been in the interviewing process to find the right ones to fit him, myself, and our budget. Granted, I would like to go hire these named crew chiefs that have been let go, but out budget doesn’t allow that. We have to get a crew chief that is going to come in and be a working crew chief. In today’s upper side of this sport, you have a crew chief that makes the decisions and somebody else’s hands and feet does the work. We are not in that position. We need a crew chief that is changing his positions. Once we get that established, Toyota has expressed a huge interest in helping us make baby steps along the way. They aren’t going to give us the bank to begin with, but we made a commitment last year with one of our partners and invest a lot of money into Triad Racing Engines. Right now, we have over 40 complete engines. Eleven are dedicated to our Cup side and the rest are for our Xfinity side. We are pretty much set on having our own engine program where I don’t have to have so many people labor wise in the shop. When you come back, the guys in the shop can have engines and working on cars two weeks ahead of time. We have some of the big team assets, but we don’t have big team money involved. I really believe it will allow us to grow and do things.
What are some realistic expectations for 2019?
Gase: It all depends on our sponsorship for that particular weekend. We don’t have the budget right now to have unlimited sticker tires, but I think we have cars and people where we can run top-20. If we have the tires, maybe we can run top-15. Just like always, you are going to have to wait and see how things go and how it all shakes out. We don’t know who we are going to be racing against yet.
How many cars will be at Daytona?
Long: We are going to have only one Cup car, which will be the 66 car with Joey. At this particular moment, we may have three more Xfinity cars. I do know we will have the 66, 13 and not sure if it will remain the 40 or become the 42. We have accumulated some parts and equipment from Ganassi, as well as the points that finished third with the 42 car. That is the growth on it. All the drivers that you have seen drive for me in the past are the ones we will have. At this current time, we are having a problem finding people to work under our scenario to be able to field four full-time cars. Two full-time cars are what we are after, but Daytona is Daytona and you find extra stuff that appears. Currently, our goal will be four Xfinity cars and one Cup car.