MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
COCA-COLA 600
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 27, 2018
TOP TEAM CHEVY FINISHERS:
POS. DRIVER
5th JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S PATRIOTIC CAMARO ZL1
6th JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1
7th KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1
9th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1
11TH CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS PATRIOTIC CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE FINISHERS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Kyle Busch (Toyota)
2nd Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
3rd Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
4th Brad Keselowski (Ford)
5TH Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Pocono Raceway with the Pocono 400 on Sunday, June 3 at 2:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S PATRIOTIC CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
HOW DO YOU ASSESS THE IMPORTANCE OF HOW GOOD THIS TOP FIVE FINISH FEELS?
“It feels good, but damn I want to win. I’m tired of running fifth, I’m tired of running whatever it is. We got off on some adjustments today and it was amazing how sensitive the car was with some minor adjustments the car just lost half a second. We had a hard time trying to grasp it and understand it and communicate about it. We put it back to the way it was and it took off and I drove right back up into the top three. Just a very small sweet spot with the car. Luckily, we finished in that sweet spot and got a good finish out of it, including a spin and we had a jack break on a stop. We had to overcome a lot tonight. Really proud of these guys. Wish that I could have got this special paint scheme into Victory Lane with the solider we were carrying on the car today.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
GOOD RUN FOR YOU HERE AFTER AN EVENTFUL NIGHT:
“Yeah, I don’t know what was wrong with the tires we had two sets that they felt loose like it shook so bad that I pitted that one time under green and then we had a real short run and I had to pit again. I was just positive they were loose, but they said there was nothing wrong, but it was shaking so bad I mean I was scared so I went ahead and pitted. But, we had a really good car and we’ve come a long way, especially the Chevy’s from the beginning of the year 1.5-miles. I think in less than a month we will contend to win. That is a good feeling.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th
“I’m bummed I gave up some track position when I got into the wall, but I was glad to see our team stay with it and come back for a top-10 finish tonight. Our DC Solar Chevy was pretty good all night, but we had to adjust on it throughout the race to stay ahead of some vibrations in the rear of the car. We had a shake to start the race, and I think that’s what upset me when I got into the wall, but we were able to work around it. This hasn’t been a great race for me, so glad to see us come away with a good finish tonight.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE PATRIOTIC CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th
NICE TOP 10 FINISH. IS THIS MAYBE A LITTLE MOMENTUM FOR YOUR GROUP?
“Yeah, for sure, to qualify 27th and finish ninth it was definitely a good night. I feel like it was way more pit crew than anything. My pit crew they killed it on pit road all night. They did a great job and got us a couple of spots on that last green flag stop. Extremely proud of those guys. Greg (Ives, crew chief) made good calls from on top of the box and our car was much better than it had been all week. Happy for that. I really like this place, so hopefully when… well I guess we are coming back to the ROVAL, so it doesn’t really matter, but hopefully next year we run a little better here.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS PATRIOTIC CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th
“Thought we were better than we have been lately, which is nice. I just hit the wall towards the end and it ended up costing us, I think, the finish we deserved.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO MILITARY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 21st
“I’ve been telling everyone all season that we’re constantly growing and improving as a race team, and we certainly showed everyone that this weekend. We had speed on Thursday and had our best qualifying effort of the year. We worked hard in practice on Saturday and felt really good about our chances in the race. There were definitely challenges throughout the night, but it was a good race for us in comparison to other mile and a half tracks we have run this year. I ran on the lead lap for most of the night, even battling back to get our lap back in Stage 3, and our GEICO Military Camaro ZL1 had a pretty good balance under the lights. There is obviously still more work to be done, but we’re going to keep digging and getting stronger every week.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in an on-track accident on lap 115
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST ACCIDENT THAT ULTIMATELY PUT YOU IN THE GARAGE?
“We just were really loose and just trying to make the top work and just got loose, came around and hit the wall and then we had a bunch of damage. It started rubbing on the tire and then it wasn’t rubbing on the tire, it was cleared, but it just felt like something broke going into (Turn) 3 and we just hit the wall again and then we had an electrical issue. Unfortunate, but we will go to Pocono and figure it out there.”
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About Chevrolet
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