MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CLASH
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 19, 2017
Alex Bowman Leads the way for Team Chevy in “The Clash” at Daytona
Daytona Beach (Fla.) – (February 19, 2017) – Alex Bowman earned a spot in the 2017 Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway by earning his first career pole at Phoenix International Speedway last season in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS, while filling in for the injured Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The Hendrick Motorsports organization gave the ‘super sub’ the opportunity to run the 75-lap non-points race at Daytona as the 2017 season for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series got underway.
Bowman made the most of his opportunity slicing and dicing with the leaders all day. A late-race crash gave the driver of the No. 88 Chevy the opportunity to capitalize on track position and take the checkered flag in the third position.
The rain postponed event scheduled to be completed under the lights Saturday night ran during the bright sun of the day on Sunday giving participants a sneak peek at what the season-opening Daytona 500 might be like.
2016 Rookie of the Year, Chase Elliott, brought his No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet SS home unscathed finishing in the seventh position, which new-comer to the Team Chevy stable, Chris Buescher finished ninth in the No. 37 Kroger Click List Chevy SS.
Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Big Mac Chevrolet SS, rounded out the top Chevy finishers crossing the line in the 10th position.
The 75-lap, two segment shootout consisted of four cautions for 16 laps. Seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, was sidelined from the event early due to an on-track incident.
Joey Logano (Ford) was the race winner followed by Kyle Busch (Toyota) in second, Danica Patrick (Ford) in fourth and Kevin Harvick (Ford) in fifth to round out the top five finishers.
Next up for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams and competitors is qualifying for the 59th running of the Daytona 500 beginning later this afternoon at 3:00 pm, ET on FOX, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
POST RACE PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT:
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS:
THE MODERATOR: Alex, do you mind taking us through those final couple laps from your perspective?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, we were pretty well buried there, kind of struggled throughout the race to keep runs going, and Chase got us up there, pushed us up there pretty far, and kind of stalled out again once we got kind of to the middle of the pack, and they all started wrecking on the bottom, and just kind of like Kyle said, it’s “Days of Thunder,” wide open on the top.
My point of view, I got T.J. telling me to use the run and get on his quarter panel and didn’t completely realize the 22 was out there all by himself. So just trying to better our position and get to second and try to use my run. You know, it’s just racing. No worries either way. But just very thankful to be here with Hendrick Motorsports. It’s been a lot of fun filling in, and really excited to see Dale Jr. get back in the car for the 500.
Q. Jimmie Johnson was having problems with Turn 4; why weren’t you, and what were you doing right?
ALEX BOWMAN: I think we all kind of struggled. You set up for a night race, and then it becomes a day race, this place gets pretty slick. It’s a lot narrower than Talladega and kind of just brings out some of the more ‑‑ some of your handling flaws. Greg made great calls from on top of the box, got the car driving a lot better, and I thought after the first half of the race, after that last stop, we got our car driving a lot better and were able to hold onto it.
Q. Did either of you just kind of see what was developing in front of you? Could you predict it before the 11 and the 2 got together?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, you know, it’s kind of speedway racing. That stuff happens, right? Obviously, I was further back than Kyle was, and especially in the laps leading up to that, so I didn’t really see what completely developed it, but it’s just day speedway racing. Stuff like that kind of happens.
Q. Alex, are you a little bittersweet coming out of the race today? What’s your thought after finishing so well and going forward?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, it’s definitely a little bittersweet, but at the same time, it’s been such an honor to drive this 88 car for Mr. Hendrick and Dale Jr. It’s been so much fun. I feel like this race team is kind of some of my best friends. It’s definitely kind of like a bittersweet feeling. I don’t really know what I have going forward, and I only know of one race for sure that I’m going to run, and it’s not a Cup race this year.
Going forward, kind of don’t know what’s going to happen, but at the same time, it’s really cool to see Dale feeling better and Dale coming back for the 500. He’s definitely going to be my pick to be up front all day on Sunday.
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, it was exciting from my point of view, as well.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thanks for putting on a great show today, and good luck.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
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