Manufacturer Notes and Quotes from Talladega 1

CHEVROLET

TALLADEGA, Ala. (April 28, 2019) – Chase Elliott scored an extremely popular victory with the No. 9 Mountain Dew/Little Caesar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on Sunday in winning the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.   Elliott led a sweep of the top-three for Team Chevy as the Camaro ZL1 won for the first time this season. Six Chevrolet drivers finished in the top-eight and won each of the three stages in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Chevrolet also was the pole-winner for the race.   “Congratulations to Chase Elliott, Alan Gustafson and Hendrick Motorsports on today's win,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “Importantly I'm really proud of all the Chevrolet drivers, crew chiefs, engineers, spotters, competition directors and team owners on how they worked together to get the best results today. It was great to see Camaro ZL1 drivers in the top three spots and six in the top 10. Now it's time to focus forward to Dover."   The victory, Chevrolet’s 41st at Talladega and 780 all-time in NASCAR’s top series, also assures Elliott a berth in the Cup Series playoffs. The race finished under yellow as fans at Talladega roared their approval of the win for Elliott and his Camaro ZL1.   Sunday was a banner day for Chevrolet as the manufacturer led 74 of 188 laps.   Alex Bowman placed second in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with Ryan Preece third in the No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.   Other Chevrolet drivers in the top-10 included Daniel Hemric, fifth in the No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1; Kurt Busch, sixth in the No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1; and Brendan Gaughan, eighth in the No. 62 Beard Oil Distributing/South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.   The next race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the Gander RV 400 on Sunday from Dover International Speedway.   CHASE ELLIOTT & ALAN GUSTAFSON, NO. 9 MOUNTAIN DEW/LITTLE CAESAR’S CAMARO ZL1 TRANSCRIPT:   THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by our race‑winning crew chief, Alan Gustafson. Congratulations.            ALAN GUSTAFSON: Thank you. Appreciate that.            THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.              Q. All the drivers have been talking about the Chevy teams were all in today, working together, making sure that somebody got to Victory Lane. With a package as crazy as this was, how tough was that from your seat watching it to actually pull off?            ALAN GUSTAFSON: I think, yeah, orchestrating it and the communication up front, laying out the plan was the majority of the hard work. The execution today was just, you know, staying calm and sticking to our guns and staying committed to the cause.           Fortunately, everybody did that and it worked really, really well. The plan went really pretty much how we laid it out. You don't get those all the time, so we'll certainly take it. Proud of everybody at Chevrolet and all the Chevrolet team members.           We needed to win this. We needed to consolidate our efforts. We needed to break the streak that one of our rivals has here.              Q. With what Chase has done, basically the last two years been carrying the banner for this Hendrick team, how have you seen him grow? What does a win like this do for you as a team?            ALAN GUSTAFSON: Well, I mean, certainly it's a good points today, a solid effort. It's what we do this for, is to win. Really proud of that. Happy for Chevrolet. I'm happy for Mr. Hendrick. Obviously happy for Chase. Really happy for the guys on the team. They've worked really, really hard. Really haven't had the results to pay off their efforts.           Just thinking back a year or s0, we've been so close to winning one of these restrictor plate races for so long, haven't been able to do it. Happy for them we were able to get that done today.              Q. The next two races are Dover and Kansas. You won both of those last year. Did you have a better feeling of a potential win going into today or in the two weeks after today?            ALAN GUSTAFSON: That's a good question. Probably of the three, I was most looking forward to Dover. I don't know if that's just because I like the track, like to go there and race at it. Typically, besides the win, we have a pretty good track record there. I was looking forward to getting to Dover.           I was looking forward to coming here. I mean, you get a little beat down after doing it for so long, not getting the results, how fickle it can be. Certainly don't want to say I wasn't looking forward to coming here. You're a bit cautious with your expectations because this place can bite you in a second.              Q. You've had the opportunity to work with Eddie as the spotter dating back to Jeff. Being able to monitor that relationship as Chase progresses as a plate driver, taking on a leadership role, getting Chase to be a better plate driver, from your standpoint what has it been like to have Eddie take on that leadership role here and Daytona?            ALAN GUSTAFSON: I love Eddie. He's a great friend of mine. We've worked together for a long time now. To be honest with you, I don't know how many years. We have a great relationship, work well together.           The biggest accolade I want to give Eddie, he really had a good cadence and a good kind of plan or mode of execution the way he did his job with Jeff. It worked out. Then when we got Chase. Chase wanted something completely different. Eddie had to adjust what he did to supply Chase with what he needed. It's significantly different. That's not an easy thing to do when you've done this for a long time and you have your system kind of worked out.           He was able to adapt to what Chase needed. I think that helped Chase get comfortable and confident, be in a position to be successful. We've had really good success with Chase on these tracks.           Chase is a really good plate racer, been a good plate racer since the day I started working with him. He's a great team member, a true friend. Really happy for him to win today also.              Q. Regardless of the Chevrolet plan, if the race had stayed green, were you fully prepared to see Alex give it a shot? How did you think you were positioned?            ALAN GUSTAFSON: Absolutely. I mean, you kind of knew it was coming. He was going to need some help behind him. I don't know how much he was going to get. Certainly he was going to form a plan. I think in those situations, you have to have a big enough run that the leader can't block. That was going to be the key.           We certainly were going to try to block it. Certainly he was going to throw it. I'd like to believe it would have ended up with one of the two of us winning. You never know. Could have been wrecks. That's just part of it.              Q. Obviously a lot of communication with Chevy and the teams this week to work together. What was it like to sit in those type of meetings? I don't think that's something you have had to this degree maybe before.            ALAN GUSTAFSON: No, you're correct. We've tried before to very little success. There wasn't certainly ever as much effort as we have had over the last few weeks.           I think Jim Campbell deserves a lot of credit for stepping up and facilitating it all, drawing the box of guidelines we're going to have to work in. Everybody quickly agreed to that and continued to push forward to support Chevrolet.           Like I said, we've tried this before. It's really been a pathetic attempt at it. Today was a culmination of a lot of hard work and a lot of effort by all the Chevy teams.           I think all those guys, certainly the drivers and the crew chiefs, the team managers, they share in this victory because they were a huge part of that, a huge part of the success today.              Q. What did the wins at Dover and Kansas last year mean to you? How much did that solidify you guys as a team to be reckoned with?            ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I think to win the championship and to get to Homestead, you have to be able to win races. That was the hurdle we hadn't been able to get over. We won the Glen, it was fantastic. But you have to win in the Playoffs. You have to win when everybody is on their best game.           I think at both those tracks, we did a really good job, were able to win in crunch time, had really fast cars. What kind of stands out to me, I just love Dover, because when you win Dover, you've done something. That's a tough, fast track. There's no place to hide. There's no way you can get away with not being on the edge all day. That's kind of Dover.           Kansas, to be honest with you, as much as we struggled on the mile‑and‑a‑half tracks last year, I didn't feel like there was any way we were going to win a mile‑and‑a‑half track. We worked really hard at this mile‑and‑a‑half program and had a test at Kansas that went fantastic. We were really solid all week. Really were in position all day long. That's kind of what stood out to me about Kansas.              Q. How do you feel about your mile‑and‑a‑half program now?            ALAN GUSTAFSON: About like I did last year (laughter). That's between me and you.            THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by our race winner, Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Mountain Dew Little Caesars Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.           Congratulations.            CHASE ELLIOTT: Thank you.            THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.              Q. After last year, the three wins, making the Playoff push you did, how big is a win like this early in the season to solidify your place, show everybody this wasn't a fluke, that you're here to stay?            CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, last year obviously was good with the three wins. The cool thing about today is how early in the year it is. Those Playoff points propelling some of those guys to the final four obviously needed to win at other places aside from a speedway, too.           A sticker is a sticker, the Playoff points are what they are. I think it's important to rack them up as early as you can, as long as you can keep stacking on top of it.           It's certainly a big deal, excited about it. Yeah, just nice to get a speedway win. We've been close, had some really fast cars. Alan has never won one in his 15 years crew chiefing or however many years it's been. That's pretty cool.           Yeah, just looking forward to enjoying it.              Q. It took you a while to get to Victory Lane. Now you have four wins in the last eight months. How have you grown as a driver over the span of the last year or so?            CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, just trying to ride the rollercoaster. Try not to be too up on the ups, too down on the downs. There's so many things out of my control, out of my hands. You just have to kind of roll with it some days. That's not fun sometimes. Sometimes it is.           Days like today, it's fun to roll with it. Richmond, it was not fun rolling with it. It's one of those things where you just have to appreciate the good days, enjoy them. These races are too hard to win not to enjoy it. You never know if or when you're ever going to win another one.           I think having such a hard road to get to win number one made me realize that and appreciate it more than I would have if I'd been able to get a win right off the bat.           Everything kind of runs its course for a reason.              Q. How big it for you because of your family's success here, I'm sure there's some sentiment there? And posting the video...            CHASE ELLIOTT: Happenstance that that video was when it was. Today worked out like it did, for sure. Dad's history, obviously very cool. To me the biggest piece of today is just how much of a home race it felt like after the race. I mean, I was blown away by the people, how fired up everybody was. That was an unbelievable experience.           We are close to home, so that's cool. They made me feel that way. Couldn't ask for much more there.              Q. Even before you won the race, watching around the middle stages, I was struck by the relationship that you and Eddie built, worked together. Sent me back to the first time you worked with him in the Cup Series. He had to teach you a lot of things. How has that relationship evolved at Daytona and Talladega to get you to the point where you're in Victory Lane?            CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, Eddie does a good job. Obviously he's been doing this stuff a lot longer than I have. Any time somebody with that kind of wisdom offers advice, I think you certainly listen. I think he has grown to kind of know what I like, what I do. I kind of know what he says, what he likes, what he likes to say, when he likes to say it.           I think all those things are nice. As you grow a relationship with somebody, it does nothing but help that. He deserves a lot of credit. He did a good job today. The Chevrolet teammates deserve a lot of credit, as well.           Alex and I, I kind of single him out a little bit because he and I were around each other a lot throughout the day. I think he built some trust in me early in the race. I built a lot in him late in the race. It takes a lot of patience to push a guy, whatnot. It was certainly a team win.              Q. You were asked about your reaction to the way the fans were cheering for you. There's been a lot of talk about NASCAR needs a Tiger Woods, somebody that can really take the role of being the popular guy. Do you want that role? What did you think about the reaction today? What do you think the reaction will be tonight?            CHASE ELLIOTT: It was awesome. Just the post race was unbelievable. I've never had a crowd just felt like in the palm of your hands is how it felt. You get excited, they get excited. You walk, they don't say anything. You pump your arms up, they get pumped up. That's just something that I've never really experienced. That's one of the coolest moments I feel like of my racing career.           Yeah, you don't know if that will always be that way. People might not like you in a couple years, whatever. Today is something I'll never forget. Just appreciate all the folks making it feel like a home race.              Q. I believe it's been since 2016 since Hendrick has gone 1‑2. To that end, how important was teamwork with Chevy as a whole?            CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, like I said, I felt like it was a team win, for sure. The large majority of the day we were working together as a bowtie group, as Team Chevy. I felt like we executed that well.           I think we could make it better, too. Just because it worked out, I don't think we need to be content in the results. I think we need to realize we can do a better job.           There's certainly power in numbers at these races. When you have guys being selfless, wanting to push and make the lane go, it makes a difference. Certainly worked out for us today. I know it didn't work out for some.           Yeah, it felt like it all kind of happens for a reason. Yes, there was a lot of effort that went in. I felt like it was executed pretty well.              Q. Big win this week. Going to two tracks where you won last year. What do those two wins mean as far as solidifying you as a contender year in, year out?            CHASE ELLIOTT: Those were certainly great wins last year. I felt like any time you can win and win often is a big deal. I felt like we won pretty often in that span of a couple months last year, which was great.           I still don't think we're winning often enough. I feel like we need to be contending more. I see some of our competitors being in contention more than we have been throughout the season. I think we can certainly do a better job.           To have a win this early in the year I think is nice. And just because we won at Dover and Kansas last year doesn't mean we're going to go run good there, too. You know that.           It's going to be hit‑or‑miss. We're going to go there, see what we have. We didn't run good at Richmond, which was unfortunate. Had a good day today, need to ride that as best we can next week.              Q. You mentioned Alex earlier. If the race had stayed green, were you prepared for him to give it a shot? How do you feel you were positioned to ward him off?            CHASE ELLIOTT: I knew something was coming, for sure. I wasn't going to ride second, if I was him. I knew he wasn't going to ride second either.           I obviously didn't know what he was going to do. I was just trying to position myself the best I could. I knew he was going to make some sort of move. I had been committed to the bottom at that point. Obviously he was going to have to come off the bottom to pass me. I was going to come off the bottom with him when he did.           It worked out. I appreciate his selflessness. There were times when he could have canned me and moved on. He didn't. Stuck to it. That went a long way. I really appreciate that. He deserves a lot of credit. Team Chevy deserves a lot of credit in general. But especially him today.              Q. On the final restart, you let Kurt Busch come in front of you. Four laps to go, most people would say it's great everybody worked together, all bets are off. Why did you do that? How did that help you out to be a favorable move for you?            CHASE ELLIOTT: Well, I mean, if it had been a green‑white‑checkered, I don't think it would have been favorable. I think having it be more than three laps, I felt like there was going to be enough steam and momentum up to where the pack was going to be kind of back to normal.           When you get those green‑white‑checkereds, doesn't seem like there's ever enough energy in it to make a run at the leader. I felt like there was going to be some power in numbers with it being that many laps to go. That's what we did.           I was really trying to stay with him and trying to stay the course on all that, be the best friend I could be at that point in time. He went to make a move on Joey. Honestly, I couldn't get up there to push him fast enough. If I did, somebody else behind me probably wasn't going to do the same. At some point that was going to hurt.           That's just kind of the way it goes. You have to realize the shoe could be on the other foot next time. It's not always going to work out for everybody. I get that. It's easy for me to say today. That's just the way it's going to be at these places.              Q. The fan reaction here. Back to Watkins Glen, maybe there weren't as many people, but that was quite a reaction, too. What makes this one stand out even more?            CHASE ELLIOTT: I honestly can't describe it to you. After the race was over, just kind of the way it ended, I was in la‑la land down there when I was looking for the checkered flag. Every time I stood up, the crowd stood up. Every time I got fired up, they got fired up. That's something you can't ever take for granted.           Like I said, people might not always like you. It's days like today, those moments, that you'll cherish and never forget. Certainly I won't. These races are too hard to win to not enjoy those moments.           Like I said before, you never know if you're ever going to win another one. I'll forever remember getting out of the car and experiencing that. There's nobody to thank but the folks watching for that moment, making me feel special. It being close to home had a lot to do with that I think. They made me feel at home today, which was pretty cool.              Q. We talked to Joey and Aric, two guys that recently won here. They were surprised it took the Chevys that long to formulate the kind of plan you did today, stick together. What took so long, in your opinion, to formulate a plan that you were able to capitalize on it like you did today?            CHASE ELLIOTT: I don't know, to be completely honest with you. We had a plan, we executed today. Really I can't answer that. I know we did the best we could today. Luckily it worked out.              Q. Have you talked to your dad? Was he here today?            CHASE ELLIOTT: I haven't talked to him yet. He was not here today. My mom and my grandmother were here, which was really cool. My mom missed all of the wins last year. My dad was at two of the three. She got to one‑up him today, which was neat.           He was driving some car at Road Atlanta today, running a vintage race over there. I talked to him this morning, but I haven't had a chance to call him yet. I will shortly.            THE MODERATOR: Results of that race. Your dad won.            CHASE ELLIOTT: He won, too. Good day.              Q. You have the last four wins for Hendrick Motorsports right now, going back to last year. Is there any point that you think you're carrying the banner? Do you feel like that?            CHASE ELLIOTT: I think as long as a seven‑time champion is in the building, he will always carry the banner.              Q. With all the chaos going on behind you, caution, no caution, maybe it's out, was there ever a thought you didn't win the race?            CHASE ELLIOTT: I thought I blew it back there. I saw the yellow light. In my mind I was thinking, It's over. Everybody comes blowing by me. I was like, You have to be kidding me. I pissed this way. Of course, my luck, they'd beat me to the next segment, be all mad about that.           But, yeah, I didn't really know. I mean, I thought when the caution came out, it was froze. That's what I was thinking in my mind. Luckily they officiated it the way I was thinking it was done.           I kind of let off. I didn't know where the wreck was either. There were cars everywhere, from what I understand. We were always told to slow down when the caution came out. That's what I did. Maybe I shouldn't have.              Q. You're a pretty popular driver amongst the millennial generation. As the wins keep going, what are some things you would like to see to keep driving in new fans?            CHASE ELLIOTT: I want people to come and just have a hell of a time at the racetrack. This is a great experience for them to do that. Really I think a lot of them are. At the end of the day you want to build a product that's exciting and is exciting do watch. I think ultimately if something is exciting to watch, I'll go watch it. That's the same reason I watch stuff, I find it entertaining.           If you're making something entertaining, somebody can come, have a great Saturday night, Sunday afternoon, Friday night, Saturday night, whatever it is, I think they will.           Yeah, I mean, that's the big one, is making a product entertaining. If that's the case, I think it will be fine. Free wings aft Hooter's tomorrow, yeah. Free fried pickles, I think, too.            THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Chase.   TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:   CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 MOUNTAIN DEW/LITTLE CAESAR’S CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner YOU HEARD IT ON THE RADIO HOW IMPORTANT THIS WIN WAS FOR THIS TEAM AND FOR CHEVROLET AND FOR YOU? “Thank you. What a day. Just a huge thanks to all of our partners, my team, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet; there was obviously a lot of teamwork done today. Big thanks to Mountain Dew and Little Caesar’s and NAPA and all our partners that make this happen. But, you guys (fans) are really what makes it happen. Thank you.”   YOU TALKED ABOUT THE CHEVROLET MEETING THIS MORNING. YOUR CREW CHIEF, ALAN GUSTAFSON, SAID SOMETHING WAS DIFFERENT THIS TIME. HOW IMPORTANT WAS THAT TODAY? “That was huge. We just had a plan and executed really well. Obviously it could have gone both ways but fortunately everybody stayed together and stayed the course and had some help on that last lap with the caution. I just appreciate all the support. This is unbelievable. This is special. This is close to home for me. It feels a little bit like a home race.”   ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd GREAT EXECUTION. WERE YOU AND OTHER CHEVYS STICKING TO THE PLAN? “Yeah, there was no plan coming off Turn 4, but unfortunately we didn’t get there before the caution came out. Big props to Chevrolet and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. They brought great race cars here. We had a great Nationwide Chevy from the time we unloaded. We showed a lot of speed. We all stuck to our plans and executed really well. Props to everybody back at home at Hendrick Motorsports and the fab shop and the engine shop and everybody that makes this deal possible.”   IF THE CAUTION DIDN’T COME OUT, WERE YOU GOING TO TRY TO MAKE A MOVE ON CHASE ELLIOTT? “Well, I’m not just going to let him win, right? I’ve got to try. I knew I could get to his quarter panel. I was pretty confident I could get to his quarter panel in the tri-oval and who knows who’s going to get to the line first at that point. I thought I could do it, but it depends on the car behind you and where he goes. It would have been fun to try, but I’m happy for Chase and Nationwide and AXALTA and everybody that let’s us keep doing this thing. I’m glad to kind of turn things around. It’s been a rough start to the year and these guys deserve way better than the finishes they’ve had. So, to come home second is not a win, but it’s headed in the right direction.”   RYAN PREECE, NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 3rd IMPRESSIVE DAY FOR YOU IN BACKING UP THAT TOP 10 FINISH IN THE DAYTONA 500 WITH A TOP 3 AT YOUR FIRST TIME HERE AT TALLADEGA “It was awesome. I was only here one other time and that was in an Xfinity car in 2016 and I was running third with three to go and went for the hole and got flushed. So, I wasn’t going to do that today. Ultimately, it was a perfect situation for Chevy there on that restart, being able to line up and push each other and really not give the other manufacturers an opportunity to get by us. So, a great day for Kroger and for JTG and hopefully we can use this momentum moving forward.”   DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th Chevrolet and all the drivers and teams put in the effort to communicate here in the last few weeks to try and stay dedicated and committed to each other. We’ve talked about it in the past, but we’ve never had such unity on the racetrack like we had today. That’s what led to us ultimately having our best finish as a group. I’m proud of that and of all the Chevrolet drivers sticking together. The first objective was to make sure a Bowtie ended up in Victory Lane today, and that’s what happened today. I’m proud of all these guys.”   THERE HAVE BEEN MEETINGS ABOUT THAT, RIGHT? “Oh yeah… many of them to make sure we were all on the same page. It was cool to see people put the effort in and then us do our jobs on the track and stay committed to each other. That’s special. It’s hard to take a lot of drivers’ egos and put them to the side and try to look for the bigger cause, which was to get Chevrolet to Victory Lane. That’s what happened and I’m happy for that.”   KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th “I feel like we had a great day with our Monster Energy Chevy. I just didn’t deliver the win. I felt like I had it in my hands and let it drop. I didn’t make the right moves at the end to bring our Monster Energy Chevy a victory. It’s tough. I just didn’t execute what I needed to do to win the race. But all in all, it was a great day for Chevrolet and the teamwork from everybody.   “Chase Elliott deserves the win. He did everything you would need a teammate from a brand to do. He put himself in position at the end. I just didn’t know what lane I needed to pick going into Turn 3 and I got swallowed up in the draft.”   HOW DO YOU LIKE RACING WITH THIS PACKAGE? “I think it was pretty good all the way around with each of the manufacturers doing their thing. No lane seemed more effective than years past. I’d give the package a thumbs up.”   WAS IT MORE CALMING TO HAVE THE CHEVYS ALL TOGETHER AND TO HAVE A PLAN? “I think it worked… the win by numbers and percentage chance. I’m happy to see Chase Elliott in Victory Lane today.”   ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING TO DOVER NEXT WEEK WITH THE MOMENTUM YOU HAVE WITH THIS TEAM? “Yeah, I just feel like I gave this one away today. Our Monster Energy Chevy was fast, and now we’ll go to a fast, one-mile track with all the horsepower. To have all this downforce and all this horsepower, I’ve been looking forward to Dover all year.”   BRENDAN GAUGHAN, NO. 62 BEARD OIL DISTRUBUTING/SOUTH POINT HOTEL & CASINO CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th: “I was telling the guys, ‘I don’t know what y’all think is so tough about this. I show up once every three months and drive into the top-10!’ I miss this sport. It is a lot of fun. I don’t miss it enough to want to be here every week. I know now I can hold my breath for a minute and 45 seconds! It was pretty impressive. Thank you to the Beard Family, Richard Childress and ECR. I’m here four times a year and we end up with a chance to win every time we show up. I love driving for this team. It was unbelievable out there at the end of that race. I tucked up and stayed up under Ryan Newman. I sat on the bottom and tried to go forward. I’ll take eighth today.”   AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 14th “I thought Chevrolet did a really good job today. The racing was pretty good. We didn’t tear up too much stuff, and with all of the downforce this new package has, we could really move around. If you did get hit, you could try to save it, so I thought there was some really good racing going on out there today. I chose the outside lane on the last run. Kyle Larson and I were committed to each other, but I don’t think the outside works with the spoilers we have on our cars now. There’s just not enough grip until the end of a run. At the end of a run, it becomes stronger. I’m proud of everyone on this No. 3 Dow Chevrolet team for their efforts today. We’re headed to Dover to try and earn a win for RCR and ECR.”   TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 STAGE ONE WINNER, Finished 17th: “I’m really proud of our effort today. We want to win the Geico 500 but we did win something today (Stage One) so that’s always good.”   HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE THE RACING TODAY? “Crazy! It’s crazy. Hopefully the fans enjoyed it, and that’s all that matters.”   HOW MUCH DID THE CHEVROLET MEETINGS HELP TODAY? "For them to step up and say, ‘This is what we want’… we’ve all been looking for that in little ways. I appreciate Jim Campbell and all the Chevrolet staff leading us as a whole. That was awesome. Hoepfully we can do that more.”   WHY DO YOU LIKE THAT PLAN OF STICKING TOGETHER? “It is successful and it is calming that if you have a teammate behind you so if you are loose and not handling well, you have some patience behind you. Any time you can have any kind of plan at a super speedway always helps.”   WHAT DOES A SECOND STAGE WIN AND THIS RESULT DO FOR YOU AND THE TEAM? “It’s massive. I don’t think anyone expected us to win two stages this year, so we’re proud of that. We’re going to keep clicking along. We were really happy with the way we did it at Bristol and we surprised ourselves to do it here at Talladega. Who knows how many more we can do it, but I’m just really proud.”   KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in last lap crash. Finished 24th FROM THE TIME WILLIAM BYRON HIT YOU IN THE SIDE OF THE DOOR UNTIL YOU CAME TO A REST, WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND? “Initially, I thought I was going to hit the inside wall pretty hard. And then right before I got to it, I felt it lift and was just hoping it would set down; and then it just started tumbling. That was probably the longest flip I’ve ever had. I haven’t seen a replay of it. I didn’t know if it would ever stop. I knew I was flipping and was just hoping that I wasn’t going to get any closer to the catch fence, so it was a little bit scary, but thankfully I’m all right. Thanks to the fab shop and Chip Ganassi Racing for building safe race cars. Like I said, that was scary. So, I’m just thankful that I’m okay. Hat’s off to Chase Elliott. It was a good day for Chevy. We all had a plan to work together and Chevy won both stages plus the end of the race. That was really cool. I thought I would have a shot to win there, but it just didn’t work out. As soon as we left the restart zone we were kind of just in a bad spot. When you’re like that and everybody is four or five-wide, you know something crazy is going to happen. But, I had a good time today. I just wish we would have been on the right end of it for once this year.”   CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 TIDE PODS CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in multi-car crash on Lap 181. Finished 30th WHAT HAPPENED? “We just got turned. I had a good driving car. We put ourselves in a good position there with just a handful of laps to go. Our Tide Pods Camaro was pretty good. It just turned right. We got hit and just turned right into the outside fence. It destroyed our race car. It destroyed several race cars. It’s just so typical of these race tracks. It gets frustrating every time you come to these places and something like this. It’s just not very much fun.”   BUBBA WALLACE, JR., NO. 43 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined in multi-car crash on Lap 10. Finished 39th THE FRONT BUMPER OF YOUR CHEVROLET VERSUS THE REAR OF THE FORD, DID THAT HAVE ANY SIGNIFICANCE OR JUST TOO MUCH BUMP? “No, it wasn’t that. It was the amount of runs and the force of it. All I was trying to do was just some wreck avoidance. I didn’t want to wad up the No. 12 (Ryan Blaney). That’s the last car I want to wad up out there. Had such a big run on him. And the No. 22 (Joey Logano) pulled up and he checked-up a little bit. And I went to go to the bottom, where I was safe. I don’t know if I crossed his bumper or whatever. But it got him wiggled down and shoved me even farther down than I wanted to go. So, I went back up just to stay off the apron and it just unloaded. It’s just unfortunate, but I tried not to wreck my buddy, Ryan, and it cost our day and some others. I apologize. But, we should have been wrecked a couple of laps before that. The No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) had a big run on us and let me in throughout the middle, so I appreciate that. We were fast. I was just trying to ride and not wreck somebody and I wrecked myself.”   FORD  

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang

Finished: 9th

“We had a really good Smithfield Ford Mustang. I thought we had a car capable of winning but just a few mistakes on my part and then a few thing didn’t go my way. I worked my way back up to the first two or three spots and got shuffled out, one time late in the race there and fell to the back. Had to fight really hard just to get back up into the top-10. I am really proud of all of our guys. I thought we had a car capable of winning and circumstances and some things didn’t go our way. The Fords were really fast. The only thing I am happy about is that we finally stopped the bleeding. We had a really crappy couple of weeks with Bristol and Richmond. We fell from fifth to 11th in points. We stopped the bleeding there, got another top-10 and are back on track going to a great race track for us in Dover.”

 

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang  

Finished: 4th

“At the end the 1 had a big run and I felt like I had to block that. When I blocked that I can’t block both and the 9 got underneath me. If I chose the bottom and block the 9 I had the 88 there and they were going to go by me as soon as they formed a run. I was not in a very good spot. Once I got on the outside I thought that would be a better spot to be than the bottom but the teammates there didn’t race each other to the end, which is good on their part because it made sure one of their cars one. If they had gotten side by side I think I could have made something happen but they were selfless toward each other. I really think even if it was green all the way to the end it would have looked exactly the same. There were no runs build and no momentum going. It is a tough spot to be in. You think you are in a good spot and anytime you can take the front row on a final restart you will take it, especially here at Talladega but it is tough when the numbers are stacked against you a little bit. The team did a good job though and our Mustang was really fast and that is what we have to be proud of.”

 

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes

Page 2

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)

Sunday, April 28, 2019

EVENT: GEICO 500 -  Post Race

 

RYAN NEWMAN, No. 6 Acorns Ford Mustang

Finished: 7th

“That was crazy. I took the inside line and started there and stayed there. Never had many places to go but either way it was a good run and a good team effort. Proud of the entire team to be able to keep it together. I think we kept most of the race cars on the race track which was probably a lot of luck. We will go on to Dover.”

 

WERE YOU SURPRISED THE CHEVY’S WERE ABLE TO LINE UP AS WELL AS THEY DID? “No, I think it was mostly luck, honestly. They did a good job of orchestrating the pit but I don't think that won them the race.”

 

“We put two tires on it there at the end and went. We just ran out of time. I think we finished sixth, I feel like I was ahead of one of those guys. It was a good run for the Acorns Ford. We got some good stage points and race points. We need to get a win. We need to get a top-5. We have top-10s rolling and that is good. We need to keep going in the right direction.”

 

WAS IT A DIFFERENT TALLADEGA? “I don't know that it was much different. You got bigger runs but the end result was basically the same. We are still at the mercy of other people’s mistakes which will always be a part of racing here. In the end I am glad all the race cars stayed on the race track.”

 

DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 Shriners Children's Hospital Ford Mustang

Finished: 23rd

“I was in the middle there after we took the white flag and I just got loose and wrecked the 24. I spun him out across my nose and he collected a few other cars. That last wreck was my fault. I was pretty stupid to wreck like that when you are running 10th or 15th on the last lap. We didn’t have a shot to win. When you get three-wide there is just nowhere to go and everybody was pushing and shoving and my car just jumped sideways and when I corrected it I caught the 24’s left rear and spun him across my nose. That was unfortunate for our team. Our Mustang was fast all day and had a lot of fun out there but just made a stupid mistake there at the end.”

 

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE NEW PACKAGE? “I thought it was pretty intense. I felt there were times guys raced really hard up front and sometimes when guys got single-file and rode. You are gonna have that in a 500-mile race. You can’t race that hard for 500 miles without carnage. That first wreck set the tone and guys chilled out a little bit. The cars are going 200 mph and it is exciting and they are hard to race and ultimately you will make some mistakes out there.”

 

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Beer Flannel Ford Mustang

Finished: 38th (Retired after accident on lap 10)

“You know, I went to the back to start and thought that was going to happen several times throughout the day. I got myself back there and it looked pretty tame so I decided to go back to the front and drove back up there fairly easy. I don't know what happened. They all wrecked and I slowed down and somebody hit me in the door and I hit the wall.”

 

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang

Finished: 40th (Retired after accident on lap 10)

“I am not really sure what happened. I didn’t see a lot of it. Looked like the 43 was being real aggressive and making stupid moves at the beginning of the race. The Love’s Travel Stops Mustang was really fast and that is pretty early in the race to be making dumb moves like that.”

 

WHAT DID YOU SEE? “Not a whole lot. It was pretty early on to be that aggressive. Unfortunately for the Love’s Travel Stops Ford we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I saw the 43 coming up the race track and that was about it. It is disappointing. We have had such good speed and such a great superspeedway program and were really hopeful for today. To be out so early on is very disappointing. It is out of our control though. It is part of superspeedway racing.”



TOYOTA QUOTES

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 10th

What happened on the final restart that shuffled you from second back to the 10th position?

“We restarted outside front row and I thought the 1 (Kurt Busch) behind me would want to race for the win and not just fall in line behind Fords and in front of Chevrolets and he would go with us a little bit there. Team order prevailed I guess. That kind of sucked. We weren’t able to have the run. As soon as he bailed off from behind me and then two others behind me got double-wide and then it just sucked me six rows back. I had to try to recover after that and all I could get was whatever I got.”

Was there more blocking than expected in the race?

“When you got older on tires and cars started to ill-handle a little bit, it was interesting. We got more downforce and yet the cars are driving worse, I don’t know how that’s possible. It was just interesting how you could be all over the place and not just be stuck. Guys were moving a little bit, you could make some moves a little bit. There was a section of race where the bottom lane didn’t move anywhere and the top lane didn’t move anywhere – we were stuck where we were at for like eight laps. That was about all I really saw.”

MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 95 Procore Toyota Camry, Leavine Family Racing

Finishing Position: 31st

What happened in the accident and how was the racing prior to the wreck?

“I’m about tired of superspeedway racing for the year. Daytona – good car, good run, crashed. Here – I was actually fighting really tight there at the end. Just was struggling to maintain, but once we got up to second cars kept getting underneath me off the corner. But I don’t know what happened. I saw (Chris) Buescher got turned and we absolutely clobbered him. I had nowhere to go, nothing to do – just speedway racing. I’m sure I’d love it if it was going the opposite direction, but it seems like we crash in every one of these things.”

 

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 36th

What happened in the accident early in the race where you sustained damage?

“We had to start in the back, got up to the top-five there. Then Bubba (Darrell Wallace Jr.) and Ryan (Blaney) were kind of bouncing off of each other. Bubba got sideways in front of me and I ran into him. That caused a little damage then we blew a tire – Jimmie (Johnson) blew a tire, no caution. Clint (Bowyer) blew a caution, wrecked, no caution. Then we blew a tire and no caution. We didn’t really get an opportunity to fix it all the way we needed to and ended up ending our day.”

How much does it bother you to be out of a superspeedway race early after recent success at Daytona?

“We’ve been pretty fortunate to miss a lot of wrecks on the superspeedway races for the last four or five years, but today was just the day that bad luck dropped on us. It’s just one of those things where I felt like I did everything I was supposed to do, but sometimes in NASCAR racing when somebody else makes a mistake you get caught up in it. That was the case today.”

What was the racing like with the new package?

“I guess maybe I could have been a little more aware of the guys I was racing around. The runs are big. It’s very hard to defend the lead once you do get up there. You have to be on your toes more so than ever with this package simply because the runs are so big. We’ve got some information, we’ll move on and go to Daytona.”

 

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2019, Issue 4, Posted 9:13 PM, 04.28.2019