NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPRINT ALL-STAR RACE
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES
MAY 21, 2016
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Finished 3rd:
WE HEARD YOU ON THE RADIO EARLIER REMINDING YOU OF THE FIRST TIME YOU FLEW A REMOTE CONTROL HELICOPTER. WAS THAT THE KIND OF CRAZY DAY THIS WAS? “Yeah, I didn’t know what way up and what way was right and left. Lap-down cars were pitting with lead-lap cars and wave-by cars were up front and in the middle. NASCAR did a good job of sorting the lineups out. Everybody was where they were supposed to be when we went back to green so you can’t complain. They were doing it unlike any other way they were doing it before. I’m sure they ran into some scenarios they weren’t really anticipating. That really was probably part of it; guys getting caught a lap down, the 20 not pitting within the first 50 laps. They weren’t anticipating all that. As far as our Mountain Dew and Nationwide Chevy, we got it better. A lot of the setup is new and some stuff we’re trying to find some speed with. We still have some gains to make. We didn’t win the race but we outran a lot of guys who had been outrunning us the last few weeks. We didn’t get to practice so we worked really hard during the race changing a lot of stuff, and I hope Greg (Ives) learned a lot. Next weekend we’ll actually get to practice some and make some changes to see if we can’t get our car better for the 600. I’d love to win that race before I retire.”
THIS WAS A SOLID EFFORT EVEN THOUGH YOU DIDN’T WIN THE MILLION DOLLAR CHECK. “Yeah, we tried to come here and learn as much as we could to get better as a team. Ninety percent of the setup in this car we hadn’t run this year. This is the race to try those things. Heck, we kind of came close. We didn’t have the speed those guys did on that last run. Right before that at the end of the second segment, I really loved our car. We’ll see how it works next weekend when we actually get to practice, try some things and change some things. We’ve learned a lot We’re still not as good as the 22 and the 2 at the end of this race but it’s better a run than we’ve had in the last several weeks.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 3M CHEVROLET SS – Finished 6th:
IT WAS A PRETTY CRAZY AND CONFUSING NIGHT. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THAT RACE?
“I really don’t know. I was just very, very confused, I felt like, for the majority of the race. We had a really good car until we got our damage there. We were trying to play the pit road game. You want to spend the least amount of time you can on pit road and that’s what everybody was doing. I was planning on pitting on that first lap after we got back going and it was just chaotic and if it was my fault and I didn’t do a good enough job getting out of the way, I’ll take the blame. I was just trying to get on pit road.”
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE AERO PACKAGE? IT LOOKED LIKE THE RACING WAS A LITTLE BIT BETTER?
“Yeah, I thought we were able to be side-by-side a little bit more. Obviously you’re at the mercy to your outside. If he wants to race with you he can; if can stick it on your door and make you real free. It’s kind of up to him. If he gives you a little mercy then sure, you can race. But I do think it is a little bit easier to be around guys, I think, is an improvement. Like I said, and improvement doesn’t mean it’s perfect. We need to keep working on things and hopefully find a good stopping point.”
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FORMAT? SOME WERE CONFUSED ABOUT THE WAVE-AROUND AND IT WAS HARD TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON SOMETIMES
“Yeah, I was confused the whole time. I really was. There was a lot of time I didn’t know what was happening and just a lot of things, but hey, I was really proud of our effort. It was such a long day and my guys did such a good job fixing our car; not once, but twice, today. So, I’m proud of them for that. I thought we had a good car from the start of the race until we got our damage and I think that’s encouraging for next week.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUSCH LIGHT CHEVROLET SS – Finished 11th:
“We just had something that went wrong. It’s unfortunate, because we had a really fast Busch Light Chevrolet. It was really, really fast, but I just got to a point where I couldn’t steer anymore in traffic or in the corner. It just made it tough.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Finished 16th:
TELL US ABOUT THE LAST RUN. “I’m super disappointed. I hate that I keep letting my team down. They did everything right. They worked their tails off after I got all the damage in the Showdown. We had a really, really good Target Chevy and were able to get to the front pretty quick there to be in the best position possible there for the last restart. I got clear right away and thought I could cruise. I was getting looser throughout the race. We were making adjustments but weren’t making big enough ones. I just got loose and Joey (Logano) caught me. He did a really good job side-drafting me. I tried to hang on his quarter panel like I did with Chase (Elliott) earlier today. I got really loose as soon as I got in the corner. We were going so fast that I couldn’t correct it and ended up drilling the wall. I’m really disappointed but congrats to Logano and their team. Hats off to my guys. They’ve worked their tails off. We’ve had fast cars the last few weeks where we had struggled with that recently. I’m having fun but this will be hard to get over.”
YOU WERE THE DOMINANT CAR IN THAT LAST 10-LAP SHOOTOUT BUT JUST LOST OUT THERE AT THE END. WHAT HAPPENED? “First off, thanks to my team for repairing our car after the Showdown where we had quite a bit of damage. Our car was really good from the start. I was able to go from 18th to I think ninth pretty quickly. We kept working on it and getting farther forward and better. I started getting looser as the race went on and thought I’d be OK for that 13-lap run we had there. I was too loose to start and you had to start pedaling it too soon in the run. Joey was able to get close to me. I tried to move around at that point, and he did a good job of side-drafting me and getting me slowed down enough to get kind of ahead of me. I just got loose getting into that corner. I definitely didn’t over-correct. I was just going fast, got loose, lost control and hit the wall. I’m disappointed. I feel like I keep letting my guys down but thanks to them and everyone at the race shop for working hard and getting our race cars a lot better. It’s been fun recently to run up front and contend for wins. I just have to figure out how to do it.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER CHEVROLET SS – Involved I multi-car crash on Lap 72 – Finished 20th
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I got in a wreck. I mean, the No. 24 (Chase Elliott) wrecked everybody and put everybody behind him in jeopardy and we got caught on the outside of it. I shouldn’t have been back there in the first place. We couldn’t even get clarification after the pit stop as to where we were even supposed to be and then we restarted and find out we’re a lap down and it’s like, how did that happen? How did that happen? It’s the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever been a part of.
CHASE ELLIOTT WAS WAVING OFF CARS BEHIND HIM THAT HE WAS GOING TO PIT. BUT IT’S BEEN ONE OF THOSE INDESCRIBABLE NIGHTS.
“I’m as baffled as everybody. I don’t know how in the hell we were scored a lap down after they stopped the 20 car (Matt Kenseth) and the pit everybody together a lap down then lead lap and then lap down. It’s the most screwed up All-Star race I’ve ever been a part of. I’m glad it’s my last one. I’m all right. I’m just madder than hell because I don’t understand how the hell they’ve officiated this from start to finish.”
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