CHEVROLET NCS AT NASHVILLE: Post-Race Notes and Quotes
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WHEN THAT LAST CAUTION CAME OUT?
“I was figuring that it was coming, but was hoping not. Ryan (Blaney) gave me a great shove and I appreciate him doing me a solid there in getting us out front. Just so proud of our team because we kind of had a setback there about halfway and we were able to get our NAPA Chevy dialed back in and get back in the mix.
It was a long day, a fun day. Thank you guys so much for hanging out. Just so proud of our team. We have had a pretty rough month and month-and-a-half, so just nice to get going back in the right direction. Getting a win is always huge, but to do it in a really cool city like Nashville is even better. Looking forward to that guitar.”
HOW DID THIS CAR COME TO LIFE AFTER THE RAIN DELAY?
“We were able to work on it a little bit after the penalty and got it going a little better. My team just stuck with it. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. They have been working really hard over the winter and through the spring to keep up. The engines have been running great and obviously great support from Chevrolet. I look forward to getting home and seeing my family; seeing mom and dad and hopefully enjoy it this week. These things are hard to come by and you have to enjoy them. You never know when or if ever you will get another one. So, super thankful and looking forward to next week.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th
EARLIER IN THE RACE YOU DIDN’T SOUND LIKE YOU HAD A LOT OF SPEED IN IT. WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO TO IT? THAT WAS AMAZING.
“It was definitely better once the sun went down. I don’t know whatever changes they made to it, so proud of my guys for working hard and persevering. Didn’t have a lot of things work out for us there as we got caught a lap down and we had to take the wave around and drove from twenty-something to 10th there before the last caution. We stayed out and netted out a top-five. So proud of my No. 5 HendrickCars.com team and proud of Chase Elliott too. That’s great for Hendrick Motorsports and everybody there. Everybody has been working hard and trying to figure out how to go faster and they were definitely the best of the four of us all weekend. Cool to see that he closed it out.”
THIS WEEK YOU HAD TO WORK REMOTELY WITH CLIFF (DANIELS). DID THAT WORK OUT WELL OR WERE THERE ANY HICCUPS WITH THAT AND DID YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO CATCH UP WITH HIM DURING THE DELAY?
“Yeah, all of us were virtually on together in the hauler and tapped into where he was, and we can talk. Adam and Kevin did a great job this weekend in leading this team. As far as Cliff, it really shows you how well he has prepared our team to face moments like we will these next four weeks. Everything I think ran really smooth. I am not sure how it went behind the wall with the crew and stuff, but from my seat it seemed like it went pretty smooth. I am sure there will be things we will tweak on and make even smoother, but I was overall pleased for the first time in my Cup career without my primary crew chief.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
YOU CAME DOWN AND GOT SOME TIRES AND YOU CAME BACK TO THE SAME SPOT YOU WERE WHEN YOU HIT PIT ROAD. TAKE US THROUGH YOUR NIGHT.
“An incredible night for the No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro. Trackhouse Racing brought two incredibly fast cars and that was the right call to pit, but we just didn’t know that 10 people were going to stay out. If a few less stay out, we have got a shot. We got through traffic the best of all of us that pitted, so proud of that and proud of the effort. Incredible job on pit road tonight by our pit crew in picking up spots each and every stop all night. We just needed a little more to run with those top four, but we were definitely a top-five car. In the Cup Series, that is all I can ask for.”
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th
“We definitely had our ups and downs today, but nice to rebound and get an 11th-place finish. We fought the handling of our FOCUSfactor Chevy early in the race and I felt like we were making the right adjustments to have a good day before the rain delay. Once we restarted, after 10-15 laps, the handling would go away and it was just hard to drive. We’ll keep learning and working to get better. Overall, a good finish that we’ll take with us in to next week at Road America.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 14th
“We got in a deficit early today at Nashville Superspeedway but this Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road team climbed our way out of it. We were too loose to start the race, and that got us behind early. We went a lap down but earned our lap back. From there, crew chief Justin Alexander made some great strategy moves to gain track position. Unfortunately, by the time we got track position our Chevy was too tight in the same places on the track that we were too loose earlier in the race. On a restart with four laps remaining, we knew that there would be a high likelihood of crashing. I just hugged the bottom of the track and dug. We raced from 18th to 14th. We were still just too tight at the end to make anything else happen. It’s not what we wanted, but we dug hard.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY MUSIC CITY CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 51; Finished 36th
“It’s frustrating to not be able to finish the Ally 400. Greg (Ives, Crew Chief) and everyone on the No. 48 team works so hard on these race cars and it’s unfortunate I wasn’t able to go compete for a win. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time today. Greg threw the kitchen sink at the car and then we made two laps before getting wrecked, so it was tough to not be able to see if we would have found something on that stop.
Huge thank you to everyone at Ally for putting on a great event this weekend. Ally goes all in on what they do and I’m glad they are all in on the No. 48 team.”
TEAM CHEVY QUICK NOTES
Stage One:
· 42 laps into the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, the race went under red flag conditions due to a lightning hold.
· Following resumption of the race, a caution flew on lap 51 for an accident involving Alex Bowman. The No. 48 Ally Music City Chevrolet team brought their Camaro ZL1 to the garage for repairs, but expiration of the DVP clock forced Bowman to be done for the day.
· Under that same caution, William Byron brought his No. 24 Valvoline Camaro ZL1 to the garage with steering issues. The No. 24 Chevrolet team was able to make repairs to his Camaro ZL1 and return to competition.
· The 90-lap stage one saw two Chevrolet drivers score stage points in the top-10:
Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 (6th)
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 (8th)
Stage Two:
· Precipitation brought the caution out on lap 119, with pit strategy coming into play throughout pit road. In that round of pit stops, the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet pit crew gained Tyler Reddick four spots on pit road, the most of the top-10.
· Another lightning hold and rainfall brought the race to its second red flag at lap 138. The race was under red flag conditions for two hours, eight minutes and 35 seconds. The 300-lap race restarted at the halfway point with 150 laps to go.
· Team Chevy Stage Two Top-10:
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1
Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Jockey Camaro ZL1
Post-Race Notes:
· The win is Elliott’s 15th-career victory in 238 NASCAR Cup Series starts.
· It also marks the sixth win of 2022 for Hendrick Motorsports; and the organization’s 286th all-time in NASCAR’s premier series.
· Elliott is now the fifth driver this season to become a repeat winner.
· Elliott’s triumph is the ninth of the season for the Camaro ZL1, more than double its manufacturer competitors.
· The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 823 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.
Ronald Fleshman
NASCAR Editor at Ris-news.com