MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
TOYOTA/SAVEMART 350
SONOMA RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 24, 2018
TOP TEAM CHEVY FINISHERS:
POS. DRIVER
4th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
9th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1
11th JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1
12th CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 MAXWELL HOUSE MAX CAMARO ZL1
14th KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE FINISHERS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
2nd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3rd Clint Bowyer (Ford)
4th Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
5th Kyle Busch (Toyota)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Chicagoland Speedway with the Overton’s 400 on Sunday, July 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th
WORKING ON YOUR NOTEBOOK, WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON TODAY’S TOP-5 FINISH
“It was a lot more fun, this trip out here, than it was the last two times. I made a lot of gains, personally, I think, for me at this track. It’s been one of my worst. To come here and have pace on Friday and qualify good on Saturday, and to have pace today, it was just a lot more fun. I appreciate everyone on my NAPA team working hard this weekend. We had a fast Chevrolet all three days. And that’s nice to show up and get rhythm. We kind of had to pick our battles today. We elected to get some stage points and that set us back a little for that last stage, but I don’t think we had the pace that the leaders had. So, it was a good finish for me, and we’re looking forward to the next road race.”
A CAREER BEST SONOMA FINISH FOR YOU TODAY AND A GOOD SOLID RUN ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE DAY?
“Yeah, I felt like we made the most of our afternoon at least and the race that we were trying to run. We realized there at the beginning that I don’t think we had the pace that the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) and the No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) had, so we elected to try to get stage points in each stage and obviously when you do that, that sets you back for the final one. Fortunately, I had a good enough car to drive forward and get back in the top five. Solid afternoon for us and looking forward to the next road race, that was a lot of fun.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th
EXCELLENT TOP 10 RUN FOR YOU HERE AT SONOMA. TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN AND THE STRATEGY YOUR TEAM HAD TODAY:
“Yeah, Greg (Ives, crew chief) made a good call on the box to I guess one stop that. It looked like some people two stopped it, but I don’t know, I still don’t feel like I do a very good job at these places, but I feel like I learned some today. Definitely made some mistakes and there is plenty I can improve on to keep getting better and learning. That is all we can really ask for.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 MAXWELL HOUSE MAX CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 12th
A CAREER BEST SONOMA FINISH FOR YOU TODAY. IT’S NOT A WIN, BUT A STEADY IMPROVEMENT FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM HERE:
“Yeah, it was a good finish there at the end. I’m proud of this team for the work put in this weekend with our Maxwell House Max Camaro ZL1. I didn’t get as much out of qualifying as I needed to and it put us a little bit behind there at the start, but through some excellent strategy and a good car we gained a lot of points today. It was a good day. I enjoy road racing, something to break it up a little bit and I’m ready for the next one.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 25th
“I felt like the biggest thing was just trying to learn the race track. The first run was really tough and after that I felt like our pace got a little bit better and improved. If I could have started the weekend where I finished the race, I feel like I have a much better idea what I needed. Now we will go back and write some notes to see how we can improve for the next road course race.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 33rd
“Today wasn’t the ending that we wanted, but I’m not going to let a mechanical issue bring this team’s morale down. There were bright spots this weekend that are worth focusing on. This is only my second time ever racing here, and I continued to learn more about how to get through this course. Our team had decent practice sessions, we made good adjustments at the start of the race to get our GEICO Camaro ZL1 handling how I needed it to, and we got ourselves up to 13th at one point after starting in the back of the pack. It’s unfortunate that the car got stuck in third gear and ruined what looked like would be a top-20 day because we really need those solid finishes, but sometimes things happen that are out of our control. We’re going to focus on the positives that we took away from this weekend and put it all in our notes for when we come back to Sonoma next year.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined on Lap 33 with oil pump issue – Finished 37th
WE HEARD YOU SAY THE SYSTEM JUST SORT OF SHUT DOWN AND COULDN’T BE FIXED. WHAT HAPPENED?
“Yeah, so our Cessna Chevy, the oil pump mechanism broke. And when it loses oil pressure, the engine shuts off. But you can turn the ignition off and kind of trick the system to get it back in the pits. And I think they’re a little worried now that maybe the engine ran a little too long without oil pressure. So, our day is done. It’s pretty frustrating.”
YOU HAD VERY HIGH HOPES AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN NO POWER. HAVE THEY DIAGNOSED WHAT HAPPENED YET?
“Yeah, something with the oil pump pulley mechanism broke. I really don’t know. They were going to try to fix it, but when that breaks the engine shuts off on its own like in an oil protection mode and we started the engine a couple of times, we kind of tricked the engine to not think it was in that mode. And so, I think they were a little worried now that maybe it ran too long and so they are going to… we are not going back out. They are going to work on it for a while, so our day is done.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined on Lap 33 with engine issue – Finished 38th
YOU GOT YOUR FIRST STAGE WIN OF THE YEAR AND NOW YOUR DAY ENDS IN THE GARAGE. WHAT LED TO THE MISSED SHIFT?
“Me. I haven’t missed a shift on a road course in 10 years. It was just me. I trying to be so patient and so smooth. It was unexpected. It’s on me. I let everybody down here. I just can’t thank Kroger and ClickList enough, and my guys. The car was good. I don’t know if it was a race-winning car. We needed a little work on the long run, but it’s just all on me. I don’t know what else to say. I just let everybody down.”
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I just missed a shift. I haven’t missed a shift in probably 10 years on a road course. The best gear boxes I have had since I’ve ever been here and I don’t know I just missed a shift. Just trying to be patient back there and set-up each move. The car was pretty good. I don’t know if it was race winning we needed to work on the long run but believe me when it happened I was in a lot of disbelief and shock. I wasn’t ready for it and let everybody down on this race team. Everybody at Kroger Clicklist and all the hard work that they have done I just pretty much let everybody down.”
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