CHEVY NCS AT TEXAS ALL-STAR: Post-Race Notes and Quotes

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Race Winner--WE HEARD YOU SAY ‘THAT PLAYED OUT EXACTLY LIKE YOU PLANNED’. THE SEASON YOU’RE HAVINGT, HE ALL-STAR WIN WITH YOUR NEW TEAM AND YOUR FOURTH WIN ON THE SEASON. DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE LIVING A DREAM?--“Definitely. Honestly, I can’t believe it. That second run there, we were really bad and I was like, ‘man, we’re in trouble’. I went backwards that round, so I was like we’ve got an uphill battle. I did not imagine seeing myself winning this race today. Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and everybody works so hard on this thing and made some good adjustments throughout the first, second and third rounds and got us in position.”

“That last restart worked out exactly how I needed it to. I wanted Chase (Elliott) to not get a good run down the back. Thankfully, I think the No. 12 (Ryan Blaney) got to his inside. I just shoved him down the back and he probably thought I was going to just follow him. I thought there had to be enough grip above where we’d been running for one corner. It was a little slick up there, but I was able to get it and hold him off from there. I can’t believe it.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rd
WHERE DID IT GO AWRY FOR YOU IN THAT END SEQUENCE?
“Kyle (Larson) got to my outside and that was the end of it, really. Just got beat. Appreciate the effort today by Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and everybody on our NAPA team. I’m super proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. We’ll keep it rolling and try to find another spot or two when it counts.”

ON THE NO. 9 TEAM’S PIT STOP COMPETITION WIN:
“Yeah, we had a badass stop. I knew when they dropped the jack that it was close. They did a really good job and I’m proud of them for that. Hopefully, we’ll carry some of that momentum forward and try to get to victory lane.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 6th
“Sixth place isn’t terrible, but definitely not where we wanted to end our night. Congrats to Chevrolet and the No. 5 team. A million dollars would have been nice.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 7th
“Tonight, we had a very strong Axalta Chevy. We were able to really get through traffic even though passing was difficult with this package. We put ourselves where we needed to be in basically just about every round. We definitely had a shot at the million-dollar prize going into the last stint, but it just didn’t go our way. While it’s tough to not get the win, there are still positives we can take away from tonight. We’ll take the momentum and go on to Nashville.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 ICASHAUTOS / I AM SECOND CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 16th
“Man, that was one of the hottest races I’ve ever been part of, but we did what we initially came to do and that was to make the main show tonight to give it our all for the $1 million dollars. Our iCashautos / I Am Second Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was really loose in the Open, but I was able to keep it up front and win Stage 2 to advance to the All-Star race. We definitely fired off better for the All-Star race, but it was tough to tell which direction the car was leaning in once the shade started to come in. I felt like we teetered right on the edge of being too tight and too loose all night long, but the car seemed to change every single lap. We kept fighting though to try to make our car better all night long and made some progress. It was fun to be in the All-Star race for the first time in my career and race with no points on the line, but I’m ready to get back to the season and continue our momentum at Nashville next weekend.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 ANDY’S FROZEN CUSTARD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 19th
“It was great to see all of the fans at Texas Motor Speedway today, and all of the excitement and buildup for the All-Star Race. Man, what an opportunity to be able to race for $1.1 Million dollars in the No. 3 Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet. It was a hot one out there tonight, which made Andy’s Frozen Custard a cool sponsor for the race. We started fifth and ran a strong race despite how slick the track was. We were lacking a lot of grip and just missing something. I got a little too aggressive during our timed pit stop and we ended up with a speeding penalty, which put us a lap down. I wish we could have gotten the Lucky Dog before the last round. It was hard to make up many positions in those last 10 laps. We’ll regroup and move onto Nashville Superspeedway next week.”

Ron Fleshman

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

Read More on Cup / XFINITY / Truck press releases
Volume 2021, Issue 6, Posted 11:41 PM, 06.13.2021