Cup / Xfinity / Truck Press Releases

Ford drivers Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney came into the Bristol Motor Speedway infield media center following their final NASCAR Cup Series practice session last night.  Here is some of their Q&A sessions with members of the media. 

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Latte Ford Mustang – DO YOU FEEL BETTER AT THIS POINT THIS YEAR THAN A YEAR AGO IN TERMS OF THIS EVENT?  “Yeah.  At this point I wasn’t worried about coming here just because you kind of know everything that you’re gonna go through.  The cars are my cars.  I sit in them every week and it’s the same throttle, the same stuff and learned last year that it’s not a dirt late model or something along those lines.  It’s our own style of dirt racing – much slower pace.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1, met with the media after the NASCAR Cup Series first practice as the fastest driver in today’s first practice session. Press Conference Transcript:

YOU WERE THIRD IN THE 10-LAP AVERAGE. DOES THAT MEAN ANYTHING OR IS THE TRACK GOING TO BE SO DIFFERENT ON SUNDAY THAT WHATEVER WE LOOK AT TODAY, WE SHOULDN’T READ TOO MUCH INTO IT?
“It’s going to be different, like the way it was different last year for this race. From practice to the race was a huge difference. But we’re going to be running this race at night on Sunday. This track holds moisture better. There are just a lot of factors that will play into that.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crunchy Cookie Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing--What are your thoughts on the track and the conditions compared to what it was last year?---“So far better I guess, but the second half of that practice you couldn’t see. You put one car in front of you, you can’t see. Two cars, you definitely can’t see. That’s going to be the toughest part – the dust. It looked like Truck practice went pretty well, but as the track started to widen a couple of those guys were a little tentative doing it the right way, and then once they started doing it, it was just dust off of the first truck that was running that high side burning it with the right rear.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1, met with the media after the NASCAR Cup Series first practice as the fastest driver in today’s first practice session. Press Conference Transcript:

YOU WERE THIRD IN THE 10-LAP AVERAGE. DOES THAT MEAN ANYTHING OR IS THE TRACK GOING TO BE SO DIFFERENT ON SUNDAY THAT WHATEVER WE LOOK AT TODAY, WE SHOULDN’T READ TOO MUCH INTO IT?
“It’s going to be different, like the way it was different last year for this race. From practice to the race was a huge difference. But we’re going to be running this race at night on Sunday. This track holds moisture better. There are just a lot of factors that will play into that.

BEN RHODES, No. 99 Tenda Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, ThorSport Racing--0How was your practice today?---“I really enjoyed it. I might be the only one that thinks this, but I enjoy the dirt in Bristol more than the concrete actually. I had a really, really fun practice session today. We ran a few laps off of the bat and the crew chief (Rich Lushes) said ‘Alright, that’s enough. Let’s be done for this round.’ After about 30 minutes of watching other people, I got really bummed out that they were having fun and I wasn’t. I begged him to let me go out and he got the truck back on the ground and we put some tires back on it and we went out and ran some laps. Which, I’m glad, because that is the happiest I’ve been in a truck at a dirt track ever. This next session we were running through changes and tried to get some sensitivities on what some of the changes are like here, so that way at the end of the stage breaks we know how to adjust the truck. Pretty calm, cool and collected practice for us, but the track is changing a lot to say the least.”

RIDGEWAY, Va. (April 9, 2022) – A trip to Martinsville Speedway saw William Byron capture his second NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) triumph of the 2022 season in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400. Victory lane at the .526-mile paperclip was a familiar place on the weekend for the 24-year-old North Carolina native, where Byron started the race weekend capturing the victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – COULD YOU HAVE DONE ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY?  “I could have tried to hit him harder.  That might have been what I needed to do.  William did a good job of executing up front on the restart there.  I was able to get to him because he made a mistake off of four taking the white flag and I thought, ‘OK, this is my chance.’  My car didn’t fire off real fast, but kind of gave me the opportunity to get to him.  I got to him and kind of rooted him up a little bit and then he came back down and just brake-checked me pretty good at the two-thirds as he should.  I’m not mad about that.  He should do that and that just killed my momentum off of two and gapped me by two car lengths almost into the final corner.  I was too far back to get to him at that point, so I just hate being that close.  It was a solid run for our car today.  Our Mustang was solid, especially on the long haul.  We just didn’t fire off as fast as we needed to and it kind of came down to that at the end.”

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Menards/Lyons Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing---Finishing Position: 1st--What does it mean to battle your teammate for the win here at Martinsville?--“What a day. I can’t say that we could have called it any better. We made the call to stay out for stage points and drove the thing all the way from the back to the front. We had older tires than all of the guys at the end. Have to thank Lyons, Menards – our GR Supra was certainly as fast as Xfinity internet is. This is a driver’s race track here. I’ve won at a lot of different places now, but this is one that you really have to get after it. Ty (Gibbs) ran a really hard racee. He cleared me really early there in stage three and he had a strong GR Supra as well. It was fun to beat him. He’s hot right now and tough to beat. This was a good one.”

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang -- “It wasn’t too bad.  This just isn’t one of my good tracks, but to come home sixth with another top 10 – all in all it’s good.  That’s what we need to do here.  Obviously, we want $100,000 and to go win races, but we just have to progress.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR PAINT SCHEME THIS WEEKEND?  “Yeah, it’s a little bit different Advance scheme than we’ve had in the past.  It’s something they’ve been wanting to do, kind of more of a black car and yellow logos.  It reminds me a lot of the Rusty Miller Genuine Draft car, so it was great to work with those guys on it.  They do a great job and also promoting the Advance My Track Challenge that’s coming back this year.  That’s a really cool program those guys are doing to support local grassroots racing, so awesome to have them their first primary of the year.  I couldn’t think of a better spot for a company who loves short track racing and local roots than Martinsville, so it should be good.”

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, took part in a press conference showcasing the Ford F-150 Lightning, which is the first all-electric truck to pace a series race.  Logano, who said he already has his Lightning on order, answered questions before today’s practice and qualifying session at the start-finish line--JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – WHAT TURNS YOU ON ABOUT THIS F-150 LIGHTNING TRUCK?  “I think the F-150 Lightning hits all of the markers that I want out of a truck.  It’s got the styling.  It has the use-ability and it’s really fast.  I mean, you remember the Ford Lightnings from before and that was all about performance and speed.  This thing is going 0-60 in under four seconds.  None of them go that fast before, so this is the fastest Lightning there’s been. 

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing--0How much could the sturdiness of these cars play into how aggressive the racing could be tomorrow night?--“I think it probably will lend itself to guys being more aggressive with each other side to side probably could be the outside lane not giving as much room to the outside lane. And suddenly maybe not as worried about tire rubs or whatnot. So certainly, it could change little things here and there. And that's something that I'm sure you'll see, casual fan will see, but certainly inside baseball.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Martinsville Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:--YOU’VE GOTTEN AROUND HERE PRETTY WELL SINCE JOINING HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS. ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS OR THOUGHTS THAT THIS NEW CAR IS GOING TO COMPLETELY TAKE AWAY SOME OF THE GOOD HABITS YOU HAVE HERE, THE FEEL THAT YOU HAVE, AND IT’S NO LONGER GOING TO BE BASICALLY YOUR MARTINSVILLE?

JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 13 Protect The Harvest Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, ThorSport Racing

JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 13 Protect The Harvest Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, ThorSport Racing 

Finishing Position: 2nd--What did you need in the closing laps to catch William Byron?

“The two-thirds part of the corner, I just couldn't quite cut the corner like I needed to and actually asked (Carl) Joiner (crew chief) to tighten it up there on the first run and I wish I wouldn't have done that because generally if you fire off a little bit free here as the night goes on and get better. Just so proud everybody at ThorSport on this Protect the Harvest Toyota Tundra. That's the first in-house chassis and in-house body for ThorSport. So to come here and run second, it's not exactly what we're looking for, but just need a little bit more turn, but all in all solid night.”

A.J. ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ACTION INDUSTRIES CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Teleconference Transcript:--DO YOU MIND JUST TELL US, OBVIOOUSLY I DON’T THINK YOU GUYS APPROACH THE RACE ANY DIFFERENT, BUT HOW FUN IT IS TO KNOW THAT YOUR TEAM HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE HOME ANOTHER BONUS DEPENDING ON YOUR FINISHING ORDER?---“Yeah, for sure. It’s a big deal what Xfinity and Comcast do to allow us to four teams or four drivers through the process of these four races to race for $100,000. It’s a big deal to the exposure of our organization to hopefully getting that money. As drivers, we put that back into the race team so all the men and women at Kaulig Racing get a bigger bonus. For several reasons it’s a huge importance at these races. We were close last week to getting it and we’ve been able to get it before. I actually think Kaulig Racing has gotten it three times. That’s a lot of money to pour back in the organization, especially for all the people that work at the race shop. It doesn’t change how we race the race, but it’s definitely something that you look at. Ultimately, we are trying to win the race, but if you know that maybe you don’t have the car to win the race you start looking at about the three other drivers that you’re racing, and it becomes a race in a race. You’re always kind of looking at those three other drivers and where they’re running and at the end of the race you kind of dictate on if you have a chance to win the race and if not then you work your strategy to try to win that $100,000.”

FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: MARTINSVILLE---All three of NASCAR’s top touring series will be competing under the lights this week at Martinsville Speedway, beginning with Thursday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and continued the next two nights with the NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Cup Series.

This Week’s Schedule:

Thursday, April 7 – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, 8 p.m. ET (FS1)

Friday, April 8 – NASCAR Xfinity Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)

Saturday, April 9 – NASCAR Cup Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Yahoo Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing--Did you notice anything with the Bristol test with Stewart Friesen?--“The track conditions look really good. Hopefully we are able to continue that, and I think we will see a dirt race. The thing about dirt racing is track conditions dictate a lot of it.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing--Finishing Position: 1st---“It was just a matter of time. We weren’t just going to hang back where we were, but everyone worked so hard on my JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) Toyota Camry team. First and foremost, I’ve got to thank my sponsors – SportClips, FedEx, Coca-Cola, the Jordan Brand, Toyota – such a huge partner of ours, and our new sponsor – Logitech. Great to have them on our car now. You just have a tough season and things aren’t going well. It seems like everything is not going your way and the law of averages say things are going to work out and we’ll get our performance better and today’s the day where it all matched up.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Triple Action Formula Ford Mustang – YOU WERE CHASING HAMLIN DOWN AND JUST FELL A LITTLE BIT SHORT.  “Yeah, I’m just really proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for just staying in there and having a great strategy and doing everything that they did all day.  It was really the first clean day that we’ve had all year.  The cars have been fast and had a shot there at the end.  I wanted to be close enough with the white to just take a swipe at him, but the lapped cars kind of got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground.  Still, it’s a great day for us and hopefully a little bit of momentum in a positive direction.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 3rd - “Thought we probably did the best job we could. It didn’t quite work out. I thought there at the end they told me I was just racing the 19. I’m like ok I got him, but then the 4 and the 11 were on a totally different planet. That’s just part of it. There wasn’t anything I could do about them, so it was probably four or five to go and Brandon (Lines) was coaching me on keeping the tires underneath it and having good exits and entries. Especially making those guys go around me on the top was definitely better. The times that guys would get underneath me was really, really hard to get back connected and get a good lap put together. The middle of the race we were terrible and we just couldn’t get in the corner at all and if you can’t get into the corner you can’t put consistent laps together. It’s nice to have a run like we had today.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Richmond Raceway. Press Conference Transcript:--AS THE MOST RECENT WINNER AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE IMPENDING FUTURE OF THAT TRACK?---“That’s not what I expected to get asked about first thing here at Richmond (laughs).

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing and MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing--What one area do you think if you get it fixed you will be better?--DENNY HAMLIN: “Everywhere. That’s what we stay on Mondays. I’m not sure honestly. It’s just a little bit everywhere honestly. It just takes time learning a lot of different new things. There were some setbacks with our testing car. There was a big crash in Texas last year with it and it set us back with some data and whatnot that maybe has an effect in it, but we’re trying to get our cars driving better and going faster.”

TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing--Finishing Position: 1st--What is that fine line you walk when you are racing for a win?--“I definitely deserve one back. We are racing for wins, and they are hard to come by, so I had to take it. We were fighting tight all day. We just couldn’t hold the bottom. John Hunter (Nemechek) was a little faster and we had a great race. Good for Toyota to finish 1-2. I just got in there deep and had to bump him out of the way up the track. We are short track racing. Thank you to Monster Energy. What a great car, this is awesome for Toyota. Cool to get our third win, so hopefully, we can keep it rolling. Thank you to everybody. Thank you to the Man above.”

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang -- “That was good from qualifying dead last to finish fifth.  It’s just frustrating.  I feel like we need to fire off better on runs and then start up front and we can win races.  I feel like we’ve just been coming from behind the whole year.  It’s frustrating, but, all in all, fifth is better than a DNF.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang -- THIS HASN’T BEEN YOUR BEST TRACK, BUT THINGS HAVE BEEN GETTING BETTER.  WHAT HAS CHANGED AT THIS PLACE FOR YOU?  “I will say it’s definitely not been my best place at all.  I struggled here really bad for years and I still don’t feel like I’m great here at all, or let alone very good.  We’ve worked really hard on figuring out what to do better here from myself to how we kind of unload with the car to be more competitive in the race, and that’s been year’s in progress of me just trying to figure out what the heck I need to do.  I feel like everyone has done a really good job to bring a fast car.  Qualifying on the pole here is one thing.  Racing here is a completely other thing.  It’s great we got the pole, but now it’s time to switch to race mode and, ‘OK, what do we have to do to be able to hold on in the race?’  The new car is a little bit different here driving-wise.  It’s kind of a fresh start for me having a new car here at this place and just working really hard with everybody at Penske on the 12 team to figure out, ‘OK, what do I need to do to just get more competitive here.’  Even though it’s not in the playoffs this year, you don’t want to run bad anywhere.  You need to be able to adapt to different racetracks, so just a fast car and a lot of hard work.”

Top Five Can’t-Miss Attractions At the Charlotte AutoFair This Weekend:
From Rick Hendrick's $5 million Ferrari LaFerrari hypercar to performances by the Xpogo Stunt Team, there's something for everyone at this weekend's Charlotte AutoFair.
Check out a screen-used Ford GT-40 from the ‘Ford vs Ferrari’ movie or Rick Hendrick’s $5 million Ferrari La Ferrari; take a spin in the Ultimate Thrill Ride or on an electric motorcycle; and watch the aerial acrobatics of the world-famous Xpogo Stunt Team this Thursday through Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s AutoFair.

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ONX HOMES / IFLY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 1st--Chastain has been so close this year to getting that first career win. Ross, today you couldn't be denied. You had to fend them off at the end. You go from first to third. There was beating, there was begging. What was that last lap like, and what is this first win like?
“I don't know. It's insane. To go up against some of the best with AJ (Allmendinger) - I mean, I know he is going to be upset with me; but we raced hard, both of us, and he owes me one. But when it comes to a Cup win, man, I can't let that go down without a fight. So, Justin Marks, Trackhouse, AdventHealth, the Moose. A million Moose members, they better be celebrating tonight all across the country and the world. Phil Surgen (Crew Chief), man. He is so good. People don't know how good this group is. I can't believe Justin Marks hired me to drive this car.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang -- Finished 6th---“It was a hot day for sure. We got done with the first stage and it was hot. We were close to winning the first stage but I just couldn’t get to Suarez. We ended up fourth in that second stage and that kind of put us back behind the eight ball and make our way through the field. We stayed out on old tires and were able to maintain track position pretty good there at the start of the third stage. Then we lost a bunch of spots on pit road when we had to wait on gas. We drove back up through there and just kind of survived. I thought our car was pretty decent. It is so hard surviving restarts and trying not to get turned. Overall it wasn’t a bad day. We got some stage points, so that is good.”

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing--Finishing Position: 3rd--How was your race?

“It was a hard-fought day that’s for sure. Losing power steering wasn’t ideal. I picked up an issue early on in the race and I knew something wasn’t right and eventually lost power steering a couple laps later. That wasn’t good, but this 20 group did amazing getting us back out there. The DeWalt Camry was really strong on restarts. I was always able to pick off a couple spots and that’s ultimately how we got our finish.”

AUSTIN, Texas (Feb. 23, 2022) – Four drivers, two overtimes and one corner created a finish for the ages as Zane Smith took the checkered flag in the wild XPEL 225 Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) on Saturday.

Kyle Busch led a race-high 31 laps, but Smith led the one that mattered, coming from fourth to first through the tricky turn 11 hairpin in the second and final overtime. Busch was collected in a crash that also took out contenders Alex Bowman and Stewart Friesen and opened the door for Smith to sweep both stages and take home the victory.

COLE CUSTER, No. 07 Bucked Up Energy Drink Ford Mustang -- Finished 3rd--“It was good to get out there and get those laps. I think I overdrove the car a lot of the day, so it was good to get in a rhythm. The track gets really hot and slick in the afternoon, so it is good to know that for the Cup car. I am pretty frustrated. I think we would have had a really good shot to win that race and I just made a stupid mistake and sped on pit road. I can’t thank everyone enough at Bucked Up and Ford Performance. Hopefully, we can have another good run tomorrow in our Cup Mustang.”

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 4 ROMCO Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Kyle Busch Motorsports --Finishing Position: 2nd--Can you describe those closing laps and how good this run was for you?--“The season has been frustrating for sure. We never give up at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports). We never give up as an organization. I didn’t have the fastest truck today. We struggled most of the day. I got spun by Zane (Smith). I’m a little ticked off there. That’s two weeks in a row that we’ve got screwed by the 38. On to next week. I’m going to run the Richmond Xfinity race. Thanks to ROMCO Equipment, Toyota, everyone at KBM, TRD for all they do for us. Hopefully, we can keep this ship righted the right way and take this and carry the momentum. It’s way better finishing second than 24th, 25th, 24th in the first three. Still got a lot to go, a lot to learn and a lot to build on, but a long season ahead.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang -- YOU HAD A BUSY DAY, HOW PROUD ARE YOU OF THE QUALIFYING EFFORT TODAY? “Yeah, this is a nice media center. I have never been in here. Yeah, talk about an up and down day, for sure. From putting it in the barriers on my third lap of practice and not knowing if the car was killed or if we had to go to a backup or what it would take to fix it. It ripped my left side mirror off right when I hit the barriers so I couldn’t see the left side of the car when I was coming back to the pits and I didn’t know how bad the damage was. I knew my wheel was straight and I had flat spots but I got out of the car and looked at it and it scuffed it up but it was nothing too bad. They went through everything thoroughly and looked at stuff and nothing was bent. We got really lucky honestly, right there, from a mistake of mine. Really lucky I hit those plastic blocks or whatever they are. We should put those things everywhere. Then to go out and have speed to put it on the pole. I didn’t know if we were even going to be able to qualify when I wrecked and to be able to come back and have a fast enough car to make it to the second round and then get a good lap in during the final round and barely beat Daniel (Suarez) there, that was really fun. Yeah, an up and down day and it is nice to end it on a high note.”

TY GIBBS, No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing--Can you talk about the qualifying lap?---“First off, we have a very favorite Interstate Batteries Toyota GR Supra. I’m excited about that. Chris (Gayle), my crew chief and Kyle Abrahims, my engineer, have worked very hard this year to prepare for this race. Last year, they had a good run, so it’s cool to be here and come and race at COTA. It’s one of the nicest facilities. I wish all of our racetracks were like this. It’s so awesome. The experience is so cool. Being here is awesome and a pleasure.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner---WILLIAM BYRON BRINGS IT HOME FOR HIS THIRD CAREER WIN. YOU JUST GOT OUT OF THE CAR AND SAID “THAT WAS FUN.” YOU HAVE A SUPERSPEEDWAY CAR, AN INTERMEDIATE SET UP - WHAT WAS THIS DAY LIKE IN THE END?--“It was so different. You know honestly the last few laps there, just trying to manage the gap to Bubba (Wallace) and trying to not get too far out front. My spotter Brandon (Lines), it’s his first win so congrats to him and just thanks to this whole team. They’ve done a great job this year. There’s a lot of changes with the Next Gen car.

The Liberty University Chevrolet was awesome there. We had a pretty rough practice; worked hard on it and got it handling well. Like I told you, it was kind of an intermediate style with a little bit of superspeedway to it, so it was lot of fun. Thanks to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. Super exciting.”

HOW ABOUT THIS CROWD? PACKED STANDS HERE TO SEE AN ATLANTA RACE LIKE WE’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
“It’s so cool. I think these fans saw one heck of a race. It was certainly long from my seat. It was mentally taxing. Just thanks to all the fans for coming out. Been an awesome weekend. I got the win last night in the Late Model too, so it’s been a lot of fun.”

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1 - Finished 2nd
LOSE SOME LAPS, GET THE LAPS BACK. IN POSITION AT THE END OF THIS RACE, ENDED UP THIRD.
“Maybe second. What a day, Regan. That’s the fight, that’s the fight in Trackhouse. This Gen 7 car to take a lick like that, blow a tire out of nowhere leading. Just cruising, blow a right rear, slam the wall, I thought our day was over. Our guys went underneath the car, got the tow closer and we got the balance back where I could drive it and this Advent Health Chevy was fast. It was so fast. I mean we were fighting with William (Byron) there at the beginning. So cool to race with buddies again. I only have a few, but the last two weeks I’ve been able to race with buddies. Can’t thank everybody at Trackhouse, the Moose, Advent Health, everybody that’s been on this car. Justin Marks and his family for what they do for me and Daniel Suarez. What a teammate to push me there at the end.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th
SECOND TOP-FIVE ALREADY THIS SEASON. YOU GUYS BOUNCED OFF THE WALL. YOU HAD A PENALTY ON PIT ROAD. WHAT WAS YOUR DAY LIKE?
“It was just like that, up and down. Our No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet was fast. We did a good job on pit road. We had fast pit stops. When we have a fast Chevrolet Camaro, it makes things easier. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing has been working very, very hard to build cars like this. We just have to keep it up. We have a few trophies coming in the near future.”

COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
“We did exactly what we set out to do today. We made Atlanta Motor Speedway like a superspeedway. We missed the wrecks and put our No. 7 Fraternal Order of Eagles Camaro ZL1 there at the end and got a top-five finish. It’s great to start our season with three top-15’s and now one top-five. Hopefully, we can maintain the momentum over the next couple of weeks and put ourselves in a good points position through the summer. Thank you to everyone at Spire Motorsports and the No. 7 team for all the hard work to continue to build fast Chevy’s.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
“It was crazy, for sure. Hopefully it was fun to watch because I felt like it was wild from my seat. It was very much so like a Daytona or Talladega. Just trying to position yourself there at the right spot and hope it goes your way.”

JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th
“Obviously, Chris (Buescher) and I were going for the same real estate there at the end, so neither of us were really to blame. I did not want to be forced down below the red and white line. I have been bitten by that rule in the past, so I obviously did not want to go below it, and I was not going to check up either. We had a really strong No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1 all day, but we were just unlucky at the end.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined due to damage sustained in an accident on lap 208.
“We were just coming to the end of the stage. He (Denny Hamlin) was just trying to help me get a run down the front stretch. He just got to me in the corner and got me loose. I hate that happened, but it’s a product of this racing and product of pushing; trying to draft and get your lane going. Nothing is intentional.

Obviously, I wish we were still out there and both of us racing. The good thing is we have a win already. Two DNF’s in a row isn’t what we want, but our No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy is fast. We were able to drive to the front a few different times and avoid a couple different wrecks. I was happy with the car. The handling was off early, but we got it better. I know the speed was there to contend. We’ll move along and go have some fun on a road course.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/SWEETLEAF CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 200.
YOU WERE LEADING AND HAD A FAST CAR. I HEARD YOUR CREW CHIEF SAY ON THE RADIO THAT YOU HAD A TIRE GO DOWN. DID YOU HAVE ANY INDICATION?
“No, I was just riding around and I felt really good with our No. 47. Kroger / SweetLeaf Camaro. It was really, really fast. We drove right up to the front from the back there at the start of the race. You saw a few tires let go with people leading, running in the front. I don’t know if with all the speed we have here, if the right rear can’t hang on or what.

The JTG Daugherty guys brought a really fast car. It was another race where I felt like we were running up front. We’ve done that quite often this year. We missed it last weekend in Phoenix, but we’ll go get them at COTA. Our guys are continuing to build really good race cars and that’s all we can ask for. We’ll keep trying to put ourselves in position. I had fun.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 100.
“William (Byron) and I had a good run through (turns) one and two. Got to the lead and he pushed me down the backstretch. I knew the Toyotas were going to go opposite of us, so I felt like having the No. 24 block bottom and me go to the top would keep the Chevy’s up front. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) decided to stick with me. I know he probably thought he was doing us a favor, but you can’t push on the left rear on exit off turn four going as fast as we’re going. He just turned me and it took us both out of the race.”

“It was the end of Stage One. We were going to get a run down the front stretch right there, so I don’t know why he’s pushing dead center, at the three-quarter mark. It’s part of it I guess. It was fun racing there for a while with a really fast No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevy. My feelings are hurt. Just two weeks in a row we’ve been taken out of the race.”

TY DILLON, NO. 42 ALSCO UNIFORMS CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 100.
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE AND WHAT DID YOU SEE?
“I don’t know. We were taking it easy. We had a penalty on pit road, so we had to restart last there. I was just kind of chilling. I was trying to slow down with the wreck and the No. 14 (Chase Briscoe), I don’t know what he was looking at or doing. He just ran right through me and ended our day. I knew we had a good enough No. 42 Alsco Uniforms Camaro ZL1 to hopefully get up front with good track position and good pit stops. Just hate that it ended our day early.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY?
“It’s really hard to pass and you need help (to pass). I wasn’t up front enough to really tell you a lot, but it was really hard to pass. Even if you were handling better, if somebody could just stay in the middle lane, you could hardly get around them unless you had a massive run and they messed up. Track position matters. We were going to need to have good pit stops. Hopefully we would have been up front, but it wasn’t our day.”

NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 16 CHEVYLINERS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 24.
“I just got loose there through (turns) one and two. It was still early in the race, so I wasn’t pushing it. I was just trying to bide my time and stay patient. It’s such a long race. It’s unfortunate. I hate it for the ChevyLiners.com team and everyone at Kaulig Racing. They’ve been putting in so many hours this year. My goal was to complete all the laps and finish the race. The No. 16 Camaro ZL1 was fast, it was just a mistake.”

KURT BUSCH, No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing--Finishing Position: 3rd--How different was today for you?--“We were on a different planet today with the draft and the way the cars raced. Wow. I was catching air off of turn two. I had to lift to not hit the rev chip. I just had a little too much damage to not be on offense, and then we were just trying to ride around and pick our poison so to speak with the Monster Energy Toyota. We weren’t on offense, so if you are not on offense, you kind of have to ride and wait for the holes to open up and I got a top-five again. A lot of sarcasm here. We know we need to get better with the handling and some of our race craft, but another top-five – we will take it.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 ITsavvy Ford Mustang – “The pylon looks better than our race, probably.  It was a hard-fought race.  We had a lot of balance gremlins that a lot of the field fought early on.  A lot of it was just not knowing what to expect.  It got better and were definitely a competitive car at the end.  We needed a little more raw speed and then going through one and two coming to the checkered I don’t know what happened there.  I haven’t seen all of that yet, but coming to the finish I had what I felt like was a decent run and went to pull down and go somewhere with it and I don’t think I realized the 31 was below me there.  That was the end of the day.  That wreck is probably on me, so frustrating to end that way but a decent finish for us still.  I’m missing the old Atlanta a lot right now.  To be fair, it was my favorite mile-and-a-half before, so it was gonna be hard for this one to compare and, to me, it doesn’t right now but we’ll keep working on it and see if we can get it better for next time.”

COREY HEIM, No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Kyle Busch Motorsports-- Finishing Position: 1st---Do you think you could have got past him without John Hunter Nemechek’s help?---“I feel like our No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was really good. It could suck up to the 18 (Chandler Smith) with five to go and anytime I try to make a run to simulate it a little bit. It’s hard to say. I could build a big enough run to get up to his rear quarter panel I could have got a shot at it. The 4 (John Hunter Nemechek) truck pushed me out and gave me a big advantage there at the end.”

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang -- YOU FINISHED 4TH BUT YOU DON’T LOOK TOO HAPPY.  “Yeah, it’s more disgust to be honest with you.  I mean, this is a top five race team week in and week out and we didn’t execute at all on my end – on either end of the race team today – but we got lucky and got another top five finish, which we needed.  We didn’t get any stage points, so that hurt us, but, like I said, we worked hard so we’re proud of that on the 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang, but we’ve got to clean some things up if we want to go win some races.”

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1, Press Conference Transcript:---YOU DID THE TEST HERE AND YOU WERE JUST ON THE TRACK IN A TRUCK. IS IT WHAT YOU EXPECTED?---“Yeah, there were some differences. They smoothed out a lot of the issues that they had. The truck drives a lot different. I was at the limit of the rear tires the whole practice, so we were pretty loose. I didn’t have any of that with the Cup car. It was a handful in the truck and I think they did a good job smoothing out some of the bumps and dips.”