CHEVY NCS AT TALLADEGA: Post-Race Notes and Quotes

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 4th--GOOD RUN HERE TODAY. WHAT CAN YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THAT?-“Yeah, I raced as smart as I could and raced on the unselfish side. The teamwork has to be there and has to be there at the right moment. For us, with the rain and the end of the Stage, we wanted to get everything we could and I am really proud of the way our car drove. This Monster Energy Chevy was fast and did everything we needed it to do. I stayed committed to the low lane and it was just a matter of when the low lane versus the high lane had the momentum and whenever the yellow was going to come out. So, we just didn’t quite have all the luck on our side today.”

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 US AIRFORCE: SPECIAL WARFARE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 9th
“Good day for the Air Force Chevy. Thought we had good speed all day and kept it up front. Thought the race was coming to us and then the rain came. Proud of the effort to have a top ten and hopefully keep it rolling at the ROVAL.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 11th
“What a weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. Our No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE® (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Inhalation Aerosol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was strong this weekend so I wish that Mother Nature would have cooperated a little more and we could have raced to the finish. Spotter Brandon Benesch did a great job helping to navigate us around the track, and we raced our way into the top-three several times. It was a really intense out there today, so I’m glad we were able to skirt our way through several wrecks. We’ll take this top-10 finish and head to the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL next weekend.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 A SHOC CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 18th
“Well the A SHOC team survived the day. I just got into the wrong lane there in the closing laps. Once that got sorted back out, I didn’t have a ton of options and we just ran out of time with the rain. Not the finish we needed, but we will head onto the ROVAL.”

RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 KROGER/VELVEETA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 115; Finished 32nd
YOU WERE RUNNING THIRD. WHAT HAPPENED IN YOUR POINT OF VIEW?
“Just superspeedway racing. This is just a common cause in this kind of racing. There is strategy and it’s a game of chess; but when the rain is coming like it was, everybody starts pushing harder and harder. Unfortunately, I was on the bad end of it. Like Chris (Buescher) and I work really good together and it was just a bad situation I guess.”

SO JUST SUPERSPEEDWAY RACING?
“Yeah, I didn’t see a replay. I think it was the 17 pushing me and helping me get to the 22; but I had some damage, and it was harder for me to lock and push. When I could, I could stay locked on. It just is what it is and unfortunately, we were a lap late with the rain coming. That was really why we were all getting aggressive like we were.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 115; Finished 36th
INVOLVED IN THAT WRECK WITH THE NO. 37 OF RYAN PREECE. HE WAS COMING DOWN THE TRACK. DID YOU JUST HAVE NOWHERE TO GO?
“Yeah, I don’t know. He was just coming down the track and I was kind of trying to run a third lane. Just part of Talladega. We’ll go to the ROVAL, try to win that one and advance that way.”

YOU ALSO HAD YOUR TEAMMATE, ALEX BOWMAN, GET KNOCKED OUT THERE IN TURN THREE. YOU’RE BOTH NOW BASICALLY IN A MUST WIN POSITION. HOW DO YOU TACKLE NEXT WEEK? HOW DO YOU GO INTO THAT MENTALLY?
“Just like we did at Bristol. Try to do the best we can. We tried to win last week and it didn’t work out. We tried to win today and it didn’t work out. We’ll approach it like we do every week.”
“Thank you to Axalta, Chevrolet and everybody back at the shop. We’ll have a really fast car for the ROVAL, so we’ll just have to go and perform there.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 CINCINNATI CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 37th
WELL, THAT WASN’T GREAT, RIGHT?
“It could have been worse; could have been worse. I haven’t seen the point total yet, but it seems like a lot of us are around the same spot. I think at times it looked worse; so like I said, it could have been worse.”

THAT WAS JUST A CASE WHERE YOU OBVIOUSLY HAD NOWHERE TO GO, RIGHT?
“Yeah, I didn’t even see what happened and had no time to react or anything like that. It’s just part of this racing when you are not situated in good track position and just got collected there. So, yeah, a bit of a bummer, but could have been worse today.”

DID THE FACT OF HAVING SOMEONE LIKE CLIFF (DANIELS, CREW CHIEF) ON THE BOX HELP MAKE THINGS CALMER DURING REPAIRS?
“Yeah, definitely. It helps keep me a little bit calm and just kind of keeping you aware helps. I screwed up where we could have been two less laps down and gotten a couple more positions. Somehow I hit the ECU switch when I shut the engine off to allow the guys to work on the front end. And then, I couldn’t get it re-fired, so we went down a lap. And then I lost the draft and ended up losing another lap. I cost myself a couple more positions, but it is what it is.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 97; Finished 38th
WHAT DID YOU FEEL INSIDE THE CAR? WAS THE BUMP JUST TOO AGGRESSIVE?
“Yeah, just dumped over on the left rear and turned us around really bad. Bummer for the Ally 48 team. We had a fast car; we were leading there. That’s just superspeedway racing and the box that we’re put in by these racetracks. You’ll have that. Bummed to have torn up racecar, but we’ll move on and try to go win the ROVAL.”

YOU’RE IN A MUST WIN POSITION NOW TO BE ABLE TO ADVANCE IN THE PLAYOFFS. DOES THAT ELEVIATE SOME PRESSURE? MAKE IT SIMPLE?
“We were pretty buried anyway and everyone is going to run pretty good. So, it was a must run really well situation anyways. It doesn’t really change much. We know we’re going to need to win. We’ll go do our best to make that happen.”

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
4th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
9th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 US AIRFORCE: SPECIAL WARFARE CAMARO ZL1 1LE
11th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1 1LE
16th RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 SUNNY D CAMARO ZL1 1LE
18th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 A SHOC CAMARO ZL1 1LE
19th QUIN HOUFF, NO. 00 8 BALL CHOCOLATE WHISKEY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
20th JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 16 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Bubba Wallace (Toyota)
2nd Brad Keselowski (Ford)
3rd Joey Logano (Ford)
4th Kurt Busch (Chevrolet)
5th Christopher Bell (Toyota)