MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
CAN-AM DUEL AT DAYTONA 2
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 23, 2017
AJ ALLMENDINGER FINISHES FOURTH IN CAN-AM DUEL AT DAYTONA 2
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Leads 53 of 60 Laps
DAYTONA, Fla., Feb. 23, 2017 – AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 47 Kroger Click List Chevrolet SS, finished in fourth place to lead six Team Chevy drivers in the top 10 in the Can-Am Duel at Daytona 2 at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night.
““Interesting,” said Allmendinger after climbing out of the No. 47 Chevrolet. “I lost the draft early on. When we go to the bottom we kind of struggle on the bottom there and need a little bit of help. We keep it wound up on the top. The car is pretty good. The last 10 laps I just hung to the top and kept hoping the line was going to move. The seas parted going into (Turn) 3. I thought ‘heck maybe I can get to the top two here’. And then about off of Turn 4 I thought ‘oh crap we are crashing this race car now.’ Overall I think it was the first time in a while that we get to take the Kroger Click List Chevy primary car to the Daytona 500. We have had to take the back-up the last couple of years, so good night. The Duels score some points, so I think we scored seven points there, which by the end of the year might be a big deal. More than anything it is in one piece. We’ve got some stuff to work on for sure. The car was stable. All the body work the guys did back at the shop, everything, the car is awesome. We just got to get a little more speed out of it.”
Austin Dillon (No. 3 DOW Chevrolet SS) finished in fifth place.
Five-time Daytona qualifying race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS) started from the pole and led 53 of the 60 laps before dropping out of the lead with three laps remaining and ending up in sixth place.
“I don’t know what I could have done differently to defend that,” said Earnhardt Jr. “Once I heard the No. 3 (Austin Dillon) was clear on the outside, I knew they were going to have a big run. Denny (Hamlin, race winner) is so smart and he knows what he’s doing out there. He’s one of the better plate racers out there. Any which way I would have went, he was going to go the other way and probably get by me. I was hoping Austin might push us a little bit since he drives a Chevy, but I don’t know if I would have done it any different than he did, either.”
Ryan Newman (No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS, eighth), Kyle Larson (No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS, ninth) and Ty Dillon (No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS, 10th) also finished in the top 10 for Team Chevy.
Defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS) rallied to finish 13th after brushing the wall with 14 laps remaining.
Earlier in the evening, Chase Elliott (No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet SS) won the Can-Am Duel at Daytona 1, Chevrolet’s 51st qualifying race win at DIS.
The 59th running of the Daytona 500 is Sunday, February 26, at 2 p.m.
POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICK LIST CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 4TH
DESCRIBE YOUR NIGHT:
“Interesting. I lost the draft early on. Some stuff we’ve got to work on. When we go to the bottom we kind of struggle on the bottom there and need a little bit of help. We keep it wound up on the top. The car is pretty good. The last 10 laps I just hung to the top and kept hoping the line was going to move. The seas parted going into (Turn) 3. I thought ‘heck maybe I can get to the top two here’. And then about off of Turn 4 I thought ‘oh crap we are crashing this race car now.’ Overall I think it was the first time in a while that we get to take the Kroger Click List Chevy primary car to the Daytona 500. We have had to take the back-up the last couple of years, so good night. The Duels score some points, so I think we scored seven points there, which by the end of the year might be a big deal. More than anything it is in one piece. We’ve got some stuff to work on for sure. The car was stable. All the body work the guys did back at the shop, everything, the car is awesome. We just got to get a little more speed out of it.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 5TH
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FINAL LAPS? DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A SHOT AT THE WIN?
“Yeah, I did. I felt like I put myself in a good position. I just… down the backstretch didn’t move quick enough, obviously, and put us to fifth. Good race anyways, I just feel like I needed to move faster to the right. I know the momentum is in the top lane and I didn’t get there.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 6TH
YOU LED 53 LAPS AND ENDED UP 6TH. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY IF THIS WERE THE DAYTONA 500?
“I don’t know what I could have done differently to defend that. Once I heard the No. 3 (Austin Dillon) was clear on the outside, I knew they was going to have a big run. Denny (Hamlin, race winner) is so smart and he knows what he’s doing out there. He’s one of the better plate racers out there. Any which way I would have went, he was going to go the other way and probably get by me. I was hoping Austin might push us a little bit since he drives a Chevy; but I don’t know if I would have done it any different than he did, either. Congratulations to Denny.
“They just had a good run at the end. I was doing what I could to keep the lead, but once they got clear of that inside lane they built so much momentum real fast right there at the end of that back straightaway and had such a big run.
“If it was the Daytona 500, same thing. There ain’t much you can do about that. It’s not really defendable. So, it’s a good job by Denny and those guys putting it all together at the end.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 8TH
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO USE FOR SUNDAY?
“Well we kept the Caterpillar Chevrolet in one piece, which was a challenge a couple of times there. Just realized more so what we need to work on without any practice and know that we have a little better car than what we finished, but we don’t have a good enough car to win right now. So, we’ve got some time to go to work.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – 9TH
YOU HAD A GOOD RACE GOING THERE UNTIL THE LAST FEW LAPS. WHAT WAS YOUR IMPRESSION OF TONIGHT’S RACE? HOW DO YOU FEEL FOR SUNDAY?
“I felt like my car works better in the bottom lane. I thought there, both Jamie, especially Jamie and myself, I thought we had more speed than we normally have at superspeedways. I was happy about that and looking forward to Sunday.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS RACE:
“I’m still learning. As a rookie, this is only my third time doing it, but I’m getting more and more comfortable every time. I felt like this time I was actually able to relax and focus on learning and getting better drafting. It was a decent finish. Still made some mistakes, too many mistakes, but I’m getting better at it. Our GEICO Chevy was really good, it was fast. It is just a matter of learning and getting better. Still an okay finish, we gained a point for the overall championship, so that was kind of our goal for tonight make sure we finished in one of those point positions and we did.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH
YOU SEEMED TO HAVE A REALLY GOOD CAR, BUT YOUR FINISH DIDN’T SHOW IT:
“Yeah, I had a really strong car. I was really happy with it and everything out there. Kevin Hamlin (spotter) did a great job spotting. It was good. Denny (Hamlin) had so much speed he was just pushing on my bumper and he could just choose left or right. So, I kind of covered left and he went right and that put me behind and I was trying to work back up there and lost again towards the end. But, I felt really good with my Farmers Insurance Chevy.”
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