MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
FOXWOODS RESORT AND CASINO 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 22, 2018
TOP TEAM CHEVY FINISHERS
POS. DRIVER
5th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
6TH RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CHEVROLET ACCESSORIES CAMARO ZL1
10TH JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1
11TH ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1
12TH KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE FINISHERS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Kevin Harvick (Ford)
2nd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
3rd Eric Almirola (Ford)
4th Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
5TH Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Pocono Raceway with the Gander Outdoors 400 on Sunday, July 29 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES & QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
YOU IN THE PAST, BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT NOW?
“I was shocked, to be honest with you, that we ran even that good. Our whole NAPA group did a great job overnight. I really have no idea where that came from. I hope it wasn’t dumb luck. Hopefully we can keep it rolling because it’s really nice to be able to go up there and lead some laps. I know it wasn’t the right part of the race, but still, leading laps for us is big compared to what we’ve been doing. I’m proud of the effort. I appreciate everybody’s effort back at Hendrick and the chassis shop and engine shop and Chevrolet and all the folks that are working hard to try to get better. We took a step in the right direction.”
AS YOU LOOK AT THE PLAYOFFS, HOW VALUABLE IS THIS POINTS HAUL TODAY?
“Yeah, it was a huge points day for us. Obviously, we’d love that win to not have to worry about it. But, we got 19 points between the two Stages, that’s 19 positions on-track, and that’s a lot. Anything can happen in these next few weeks and to have all you can get is really important.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CHEVROLET ACCESSORIES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
SIXTH PLACE FINISH HERE TODAY AT NEW HAMPSHIRE IS A GOOD SHOWING FOR YOU AND THIS TEAM:
“Yeah, it was a good rebound from yesterday. The entire weekend they definitely stepped it up. It was a good run for our Chevy Accessories Chevy Camaro. The guys did a good job in the pits today, that was nice to see, we have been struggling a little bit there. Just proud of everybody. Not the end result that we want, but a huge improvement and that is something we want. We will keep digging.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 10th
10TH PLACE HERE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE NOT WHAT YOU AND THIS TEAM ARE LOOKING FOR BUT STILL AN IMPROVEMENT:
“No, I think top 10 is where we need to be. Top five right now on sheer speed is something we are achieving and trying to get to. We scored some great points in the stages, I think finished third and seventh or something like that. All-in-all we had a good day, always could be better, but a nice solid step forward.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1- Finished 11th
NICE REBOUND FOR AN 11TH PLACE FINISH TODAY AFTER WHERE YOU WERE RUNNING AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE RACE:
“We really struggled. We were 10 out of 10 plowing tight, had the trackbar maxed out all the way up, all the rear brake I could stand and doing everything I could to try to get the thing to turn, it just wasn’t going to turn. Hate it. I hate that we unloaded with so much speed and just kind of I guess didn’t go the right way or the track changed on us, but really proud of Greg (Ives, crew chief) and everybody for getting the car better there at the end. Had a good restart there and almost got a top 10. It could have been a lot worse.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 14th
ON HIS DAY:
“Yeah, I mean it was okay. I thought at the beginning of the race we kind of just got really loose in which made it really hard for us to hold position. And then I felt like once we got that back out of it we just had that one weak run and once we got that back out of it we were pretty good again. Just kind of missed it that one run and hard to make up track position after that.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 23rd
“This GEICO Camaro ZL1 was incredibly fast today. It was one of the best pieces that we have brought to the racetrack all year. I hate that my restart violation at the start of Stage 2 put us behind. My crew chief made every strategy call that he could to keep us in the game and get laps back, but we never could get back ahead. I have no doubt that this was a top-10 car, and I’m disappointed that we couldn’t show everyone that. But, we’re still only halfway through the season with a lot of racing left. We can’t and won’t let ourselves get down. We will put one of these races together from start to finish here soon.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined with a left rear tire issue on lap 19
DO YOU THINK THERE WAS CONTACT EARLY-ON THAT CUT THAT TIRE?
“Yeah, I thought (Ryan) Newman got up into the side of me pretty early. It felt fine while that run was going on. The caution came out and we went back green. The first lap, it didn’t quite feel right but I was on the bottom. Down the front straightaway I felt it really go and I did everything I could to try to slow it down and at least just get out of the way. Once you get high up there, you can’t save it. So, it’s disappointing for everybody on our race team and Kroger and all of our partners. We’ll try to get ready next week and get the Kroger ClickList Chevy good at Pocono, and then go to Watkins Glen. It’s been a tough few weeks. I’m not sure what else to think.”
HOW DID THAT HAPPEN OUT THERE?
“I think Ryan Newman got into the side of me pretty early at the start of the race. I was kind of nervous about it there was no smoke in the car though, so I thought we were okay. And then we went back green and, on the restart, it just felt like the car was moving around a lot and down the front straightaway I felt it go. I tried everything I could do to slow the car down to get it stopped, but there was nothing I could do. Usually when you hit here you hit big and just disappointed. We have had a rough few weeks. Obviously, Daytona was okay, but other than that is has been a rough few weeks. Just sorry to all my race team and Kroger ClickList and just trying to go to Pocono and do it again.”
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