TEAM CHEVY - Gander RV Notes and Quotes

Kurt Busch Finishes Fifth to Pace Team Chevy in Daytona Duel 2
Brendan Gaughan Races into Daytona 500
 
DAYTONA, Fla. (February 14, 2018) – Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1, finished in fifth place to lead five Team Chevy drivers in the top 10 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV Duel 2 at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night.
 
Brendan Gaughan (No. 62 Beard Oil Distributing/South Point Camaro ZL1), despite finishing in 15th place, one lap down, did race his way into Sunday’s Daytona 500, so 20 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1’s will start the 61st running of the Daytona 500.
 
Jamie McMurray (No. 40 McDonald’s/Cessna/Bass Pro Shops Camaro ZL1, seventh), two-time Duel winner Chase Elliott (No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1, eighth), Austin Dillon (No. 3 Dow Camaro ZL1, ninth) and Ty Dillon (No. 13 GEICO Camaro ZL1, 10th) also finished in the top 10 for Chevrolet.
 
Alex Bowman (No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1) started on the pole and led the first 11 laps before finishing in 13th place, the first car one lap down, he will start on the outside front row in ‘The Great American Race’.
 
The starting line-up is now set for the 2019 Daytona 500 which will begin Sunday, February 17 at 3:00 pm, ET, with live coverage on FOX, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio channel 90.
 
POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS JUST RIDE AROUND THE TOP THE WHOLE RACE:
“The second race always learns from the first race and with the way the side drafting is, it’s hard to do any side drafts off that left-side. Everybody was trying to make sure we all applied the lessons learned on how close you can get to somebody’s left-rear and how quick somebody can have a problem.”
 
DO YOU THINK WITH 40 CARS OUT THERE IN THE HEAT DO THINGS GET DICER?
“We need heat, we need daytime and we need handling to come into play. Right now, everybody is just doing fuel only and the cars are driving pretty easy. With the handling, the draft is still very unstable, so we will see how it plays out.”
 
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th
YOU WERE MAKING MOVES DURING THE WHOLE RACE. HOW HARD WAS IT TO MAKE MOVES?
“Yeah it was hard. Certainly, was very doable. Really hard to do, but you could make your way forward, I think, with it like that. Luckily, Joey (Logano) was far enough up where he could time it to get all the way to the lead. He did a really good job of that and yeah, I just couldn’t get far enough up to the front.”
 
WITH 40 CARS OUT THERE IS THERE A BETTER CHANCE FOR YOU TO MAKE MOVES?
“I think so. I mean I don’t know that for sure, but there is certainly a larger penalty for not getting back in line where there are 40 guys versus 20. Something to think about, but hey, if they are going to ride around the top all day long, I’ll be happy to try the bottom and at least make something happen for the great people that are watching up here in the stands.”
 
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 10th
“My GEICO Camaro ZL1 was dialed in tonight. It handles incredibly well in the draft, and I was able to move around pretty easily when I wanted to try the bottom lane. I love that handling is a thing we can talk about at Daytona now with this new package. It really fits my aggressive driving style. After tonight, I am more than ready to get to Sunday to show everyone what this machine can do.”
 
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 13th
WAS THAT MISSION ACCOMPLISHED FOR YOU?
“Yeah, I mean I would have liked to have raced a little more, but just kind of got in a bad box there. When we were going around those lap cars, I got stuck on the bottom of three-wide and I was going to be at the back of the group running anyway. The blue oval gang did a little better job on and off of pit road than we did. That was frustrating because I think we were on both sides of the strategy between the first and second Duel and they did a better job both times. That is frustrating. We’ve got to get that part of it together if we are going to go beat them, but it’s good to have the car in one piece and the No. 88 Nationwide Camaro was pretty good.”
 
BRENDAN GAUGHAN, NO. 62 BEARD OIL DISTRIBUTING/SOUTH POINT CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 15th
“I always come off as a class clown, but I haven’t been that nervous in a long time getting behind the wheel of a race car. The Beard family put so much into this and we come here to run very well; not run like that. You’ve got to have discretion of valor you’ve got to make do with what you have to make do with. I had to change strategies on the fly. Darren Shaw, my crew chief, and Ron Lewis, my spotter did a great job. Thank you, Corey LaJoie. He just kind of stuck right in there with us on that pit stop and that’s what got us in this position; so, thank you, guys. We’ll see you at the Daytona 500!”
 
DID YOU THINK WHEN JOEY LOGANO WAS AHEAD OF YOU AND YOU HAD TO TAG THE TAIL-END OF THAT LEAD DRAFT, DID YOU THINK THAT WAS GOING TO WORK?
“No. Joey is one blocking dude, man. He’s always been able to do that. He can side draft. In the Xfinity Series, he’s tough to pass. And I knew I was screwed when I made that move to try to get by early. This Chevrolet will keep up with the draft, but when I lost that pack and had to battle so hard to get by Joey, I knew I had to get rid of him because I knew our Chevrolet was so much faster; so once I got rid of him, we picked-up Casey Mears, which still had a little bit of fear in the back of me because Casey was the other guy we were racing. The Mears and Gaughans go way back to the ‘70’s and I like the friendship part of it, not the racing part of it.”
 
CASEY MEARS, NO. 27 RIM RYDERZ CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 17th
 “Coming into our duel, our main goal was to keep our Rim Ryderz Camaro ZL1 out of harms way without damage. Our primary car is the best piece that we brought to the track, and since we locked ourselves in by speed in single car qualifying, there was no point in risking our car. Pat Tryson and the entire No. 27 team have worked extremely hard, and I'm excited to race on Sunday."