MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BIG MACHINE VODKA 400 AT THE BRICKYARD
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 10, 2018
Five Team Chevy Drivers Qualify for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs
INDIANAPOLIS (September 10, 2018) After inclement weather delayed the running of the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard for 24 hours, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) regular season is now in the record books. Five Team Chevy drivers battled their way into the group of 16 and are poised for a run at the championship when the Playoffs kickoff next Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 leads the Bowtie contingent into Round One, as the eighth seed in the 16-driver roster. Elliott’s victory at Watkins Glen locked him the elite group competing for the coveted title. Elliott will be making his third appearance in the Playoffs. He has made it every year since his rookie season.
Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow MOLYKOTE Camaro ZL1, will be the 11th seed as the Series’ heads for ‘Sin City’. Dillon is making his third appearance as part of the prestigious group.
Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 will start Round One at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the 12th seed in the order of championship contenders. Larson will be making his third run for the MENCS title.
Seven-time MENCS champion Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s for Pros Camaro ZL1, is the 15th seed. Johnson is the only driver in the flight of 16 who has made every Playoff since the start of the knock-out style championship ladder format in 2004.
Alex Bowman, in his first year competing full-time for Hendrick Motorsports, was the final driver to make it into the 16-driver Playoff. He will be seeded 16th in his Playoffs appearance behind the wheel of the No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1.
Brad Keselowski (Ford) won today’s 25th running of the prestigious race at the Brickyard.
Next week the series kicks off the first round of the 10-race MENCS Playoffs at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 16th at 3:00 p.m., ET on NBCSN, PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
7th JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA/MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1
10th RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 GRAINGER CAMARO ZL1
14th KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1
15th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
16th JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Brad Keselowski (Ford)
2nd Eric Jones (Toyota)
3rd Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
4th Kevin Harvick (Ford)
5th Clint Bowyer (Ford)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season resumes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the South Point Hotel & Casino 400 on Sunday, September 16th at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
JAMIE MCURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S/CESSNA CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th
THAT WAS A GUTSY CALL THERE AT THE END TO TRY TO GET THE WIN. WAS THAT THE ONLY CALL TO MAKE?
“Yeah, you just do whatever you have to in order to win and it’s the same strategy that the No. 11 and No. 14 were on. I think we all pitted really close. It was hard to pass today and having that track position at the end I didn’t think… I mean I wanted to stay out because it was hard to make up any ground. When the No. 42 pitted I was worried about how many behind us might follow him in. We definitely made the right call. If the last caution hadn’t come out we would have run third or fourth, yeah it was a good day.”
WERE YOU THINKING YOU HAD A SHOT?
“Yeah, on both those last restarts. You never know what is going to happen. When I was third, yeah, I had been getting really good restarts all day long on the bottom. So, yeah, I did, but just didn’t have it.”
YOU CAN’T ARGUE THE LAST TWO WEEKS FOR YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN GREATLY IMPROVED:
“No, it’s been really good. Darlington, I was a little bit surprised because we tire tested there and I didn’t think we were great, but we tire tested here as well and had a great test, so I figured we were going to run well today.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 14th/Advances to Playoffs
14TH IS NOT WHERE YOU STARTED THE DAY. WHERE DID THE AFTERNOON GO FOR YOU?
“We were good. I thought we had a third to fifth-place car. Our Credit Bank Chevy was a little free to start the race, but then the track tightened-up and I thought we were pretty decent. I was running around third there in that long run there towards the end. And then we had the caution. We decided to pit for tires and I don’t know. We restarted like 13th or something like that. And they all stacked-up in the bottom in front of me. I got some nose and hood damage. And I was super slow down the straightaways after that. We’d get ate up and pass pretty easily. I was tight in the corners after that. That last little run didn’t work out for us. So, I wish we wouldn’t have gotten all stacked-up there into (Turn) 1 because I felt like I could have drove maybe back up to the top five. So, I was disappointed in that. But, I’m happy with the speed we had in our car again. We didn’t have the dominant speed that we had last week, but we were competitive. It’s better than we were, say a month ago. I’m excited about the Playoffs. Hopefully we can have a good first round here and we can go for a championship.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE TODAY:
“Yeah, our race was good. I felt like our car handled pretty decent there. The last little bit of the race just didn’t work out for us. We pitted for tires and then on that restart they all checked-up in front of me and I stacked up into (Ryan) Blaney and got some nose damage and then my speed was just really bad after that. I was tighter in the corners and slower down the straightaways. It allowed people to pass me pretty easily. So, felt like we had a third to fifth place car and ended up 14th, so a little disappointing, but good that we had speed.”
YOU ARE ONE OF THE CHEVROLET ‘FAB’ FIVE GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOUR OUTLOOK IS HEADING INTO LAS VEGAS NEXT WEEK:
“Yeah, I mean we will see how we stack up once the Playoffs start. Obviously, we were really good last week. We were pretty good here today just the finish doesn’t show for it and then I think we were good at Vegas earlier in the year. So, we have some good tracks for us in the Playoffs so hopefully we can catch some good luck and be able to give a run for the championship.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 15th/Advances to Playoffs
WHAT WERE YOU LACKING TODAY?
“I felt like we actually got our NAPA Camaro pretty good there at one point in time. I say pretty good; it was better than we have been here; better than I typically am. So, that was encouraging. We had some decent pace. Those restarts there at the end were just terrible for whoever was on the outside lane and I, unfortunately, got a couple of them. You could make it go if you were up towards the front. I certainly couldn’t figure it out so maybe it was me. But, we’ll go on to Vegas.”
HOW WEIRD WAS THIS WEEKEND WITH NO PRACTICE OR QUALIFYING? DO YOU TAKE MUCH STOCK IN THE SPEED YOU BROUGHT HERE AND PUTTING IT INTO THE PLAYOFFS AS WE GET TO VEGAS?
“Yeah, I think it’s very similar. We could be here practicing for a week and the same people are going to run good. So, I don’t really know what it matters. I think our speed has been better. We’ve just got to keep improving.”
TODAY DIDN’T GO AS YOU PROBABLY PLANNED. THERE WERE A VARIETY OF PIT STRATEGIES. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY OVERALL?
“I felt like there was one point in time where we had our car pretty decent and just never there towards the end I couldn’t get rolling on restarts. It just seemed like if you were back in the pack and up top you kind of struggled. So, just struggled to get going there at the end when it counted the most and had good tires and the second to last restart I had a decent restart and was making some decent ground. I thought we could get back up inside the top 10, about where we had been running all day and finish there, but we didn’t and we will just move on down the road.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE PLAYOFFS. WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK HEADED INTO THIS FIRST ROUND?
“Well, I think just be solid. Getting as many points as you can trying to grab a victory. Vegas was… we had a solid car there I think in the first race and I feel like we are a lot better than we were then in a lot of different aspects. I’m looking forward to getting out there and hopefully it won’t rain on us.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 16th/Advances to Playoffs
WAS TODAY A DAY WHERE THERE JUST WASN’T THE SPEED IN THE NO. 48?
“We raced up into the top 10 a couple of times. Restarts were key, but we just didn’t have the speed to run up front. But, I can say we worked our butts off. We were very well prepared to come in here and have as much speed as possible, and we’re going to go home and work hard and be ready for Las Vegas.
“I’m just proud that I’ve made every Playoff since NASCAR started them, so that’s a big honor for me. Now we just need to go the rounds and get hot at the right time.”
TELL US WHY THE NO. 48 TEAM IS GOING TO BE A THREAT AS WE GO TO THE PLAYOFFS
“Well, we have a lot of experience. I think our experience in pressure-packed situations will help us and hopefully help us get where we need to. But, we do need speed. I’m looking at experience and I’m also looking at time. We still have ten weeks left to find some speed. If we can win at some key races and transfer; we have the ROVAL in the first round, we have short tracks, we have my best track at Dover. If we can stay alive and get to Homestead, who knows what can happen down there.”
TALK ABOUT TODAY, THE RACE SEEMED TO TAKE ON A STRANGE COMPLEXION:
“It did feel strange. I didn’t know how it looked from the outside, but we were probably a top 10 car, top 15 var it seemed like. I don’t know, we just kept digging along and strategies were all different so it was hard to get a great read on where we were. Early the No. 88 had some trouble, so our race changed a little bit to transfer into the Playoffs. That was something that happened early we were aware of and then just trying to bring it home and try and get the best finish we could.”
IS THIS THE FIRST TIME IN YOUR CAREER YOU HAVE EVER RACED WITHOUT PRACTICE OR QUALIFYING?
“It is. First time ever. And as far as I can remember from my years of watching NASCAR the first time in NASCAR, but certainly my first time ever in my professional career in a car.”
YOU ARE THE ONLY DRIVER TO ALWAYS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS WITH THIS FORMAT. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL NOW THAT YOU ARE IN THIS YEAR?
“That is definitely the silver lining for today. I expected more and certainly wanted more, but we transferred, we are still alive and hopefully we can go some rounds and get hot at the right time.”
NOW THAT WE CLEAN THE SLATE AND RESET WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THE FIRST ROUND?
“Yeah, outside of the obvious just the best finish we can get. The ROVAL can play some weird games on the points. I’m sure everybody wants to win, but being smart in the points can also help you get through that first round.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 19th
ON HIS DAY:
“Yeah, we were not stellar. We kind of just played some different strategy and couldn’t keep our track position up front, but overall it was a good effort. I thought we made some decent adjustments and good things, but still just got to keep working.”
REGAN SMITH, NO. 95 WRL GENERAL CONTRACTORS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 20th
“What a crazy day at Indianapolis. My first time back in the car in a while. I’ve got to tell you something, it’s just as wild as it’s always been and just as difficult as it has always been, very aero sensitive race cars. We hear the drivers talk about it every week. I got to experience it first hand today, but I had a lot of fun battling in the No. 95 car. Bob Leavine and his whole team have done a very nice job of putting a group of guys together, appreciative to get to drive for them. At one point, I looked over and I’m side-by-side with Jimmie Johnson, so not a bad day for us. I wanted to stay out of the middle of all the points stuff that was going on there naturally and let that play out for those guys that had some battles going on. None-the-less, Indianapolis, this place is magical and will be back here next year for the Brickyard 400.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 21st
“Today was a good day for our GEICO Camaro ZL1 team. It was our third straight 21st-place finish. That may not seem like a lot to many people but that’s great consistency for our team. We’re improving and getting better week in and week out. I’m proud of our effort coming down to the last stretch of the season. We’re getting stronger as a team and we will keep making gains.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW MOLYKOTE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 22nd/Advances to Playoffs
WHAT HAPPENED THERE AT THE END OF THE RACE TODAY?
“Frustrating day because we had a pretty good car. We just couldn’t ever keep the track position we needed to. The No. 9 car chopped us off going into (Turn) 4 and instead of wrecking him, I wrecked the No. 22 and then we blew a tire because of it. The Playoffs are coming up though, here we go.”
WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK AS WE HEAD INTO LAS VEGAS NEXT WEEK:
“We have had fast cars here lately and that is a good thing. So, we are capable of bringing some speed to the track and Vegas has been a good track for us in the past. So, hopefully, we can just take what we have been good with the last couple of weeks and run it there.”
YOU GUYS HAVE KNOWN YOU ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS SINCE RACE NUMBER 1. HOW HARD IS IT TO KIND OF RESET NOW THAT THE PLAYOFFS ARE FINALLY HERE?
“It’s not too hard. We have been racing the last couple of weeks like it’s Playoff time and trying to get as many points as we can. We will go after it hard when we get to Vegas.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 33rd/Advances to Playoffs
YOU WERE INVOLVED IN A WRECK WITH AJ ALLMENDINGER, AND THEN YOU CONTINUED TO RUN AND TAKE CARE OF THIS CAR. WERE YOU WATCHING JAMIE MCMURRAY AND HOPING HE WOULDN’T WIN?
“I was watching the scoreboard a little bit. If the No. 1 (McMurray) won, he deserved to be in it more than we did. I kind of had that attitude all weekend. If somebody else wins, we can’t control that, you know? It was a pretty miserable day. I hate it for my guys. I hate it for the No. 47 (Allmendinger) as well. I don’t know if I came down on his door too much or if he just got loose. Whatever it was, it was a bummer for both of us. I hate that. But, we’ll move on from it. It wasn’t a good day but at least we finished and we’ll move on to Vegas.”
YOUR TEAMMATE JIMMIE JOHNSON SAID HIS TEAM WOULD BE A THREAT IN THE PLAYOFFS BECAUSE THEY HAVE EXPERIENCE, BUT THEY ARE LACKING SPEED. WHY IS YOUR TEAM GOING TO BE A THREAT IN THE PLAYOFFS IF YOU’RE LACKING SPEED?
“Well, I don’t have a whole lot of experience in the Playoffs. I don’t know. I wish I had something witty to come up with. I want to win races so I can buy more car parts and mod more cars and build more cool stuff at home. Maybe the fact that Mr. Hendrick is making me spend all my money on this grudge race that we have coming up and make my Corvette faster, means I need to go run better to get some money or else I’m not going to be able to afford it.”
WHAT EXPERIENCE ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE PLAYOFFS?
“Just being a part of it is really cool. To come from where I was at in my career is so unobtainable. Just driving for Hendrick Motorsports seemed unobtainable, but to make the Playoffs in my first year back is really cool. It’s a special thing to be a part of. It’s frustrating after a day like today, but it’s just cool to be a part of it.”
HOW PREPARED IS THE NO. 42 TEAM TO WIN THE FIRST ROUND AND MOVE ON?
“I think we’ve got a lot better speed in our cars. Pit road has been a mess all year, basically. We’ll have a good couple of stops and one where we explode. I didn’t do a good job on pit road today, either. I almost slipped through my stall one time. I stalled it leaving the box another time. So, I didn’t do good. But, we’ve just got to clean that up. If we want to win a championship we have to cleanup everything, but especially pit roads. So, we’ll see. But, I’m looking forward to it. Maybe it will all come together and be good these next ten weeks.”
ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT MAKING THE PLAYOFFS EVEN THOUGH TODAY WAS NOT THE DAY YOU WERE HOPING FOR?
“It’s hard to be excited after that one. I’m pretty disappointed. I hate it for my guys. I thought we were going to have a solid day and have a strong car. Just super loose in and kind of got behind there and made some good adjustments on it. I haven’t seen the replay I don’t know if I got too close to the No. 47 door or if he just got loose, but I think we race each other really clean, so obviously if it was my fault, I apologize and if not, I just got tagged in the left rear and turned around from racing hard. That is a bummer, I hate it for Axalta and Church Brothers, their first time being on the car. It’s a big bummer, hopefully we just improve. It’s been a rough couple of weeks.”
YOU MADE IT IN THE PLAYOFFS. THOUGHTS?
“Yeah, so there is that. It doesn’t really make me feel that much better right now. Just a little frustrated, you know, we are not running how we need to be running. I want to be in the Playoffs and be able to make noise in the Playoffs, not just make it by the skin of our teeth and not be able to do anything in it. We have got a lot of work to do, but we know it and we are going to continue getting better.”
DARRELL ‘BUBBA’ WALLACE, JR., NO. 43 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined on Lap 57 with brake issue
THAT INCIDENT SEEMED LIKE WHAT HAPPENED AT POCONO, WHAT DID YOU FEEL?
“I felt the same. It scared the hell out of me, for a second; and I spun around so fast and I think I dropped the window net before I even spun out to let everybody know I’m fine. But after it slowed down and got on track I said we’re done. The brakes blew up or broke or something and we got killed there. It felt like an hour and a half later. It’s unfortunate. We’ve got to go back to the shop and figure out if it was brakes or a tire coming apart and ripping the brake line off. But, I had no sign of any indication before. It just went around. So, it’s unfortunate. I thought we were starting to make some headway. We were struggling on center exit, but I’m just glad it wasn’t like Pocono again.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in an on-track accident on lap 66
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I was under Alex (Bowman) just trying to stay off of him. I was hoping I could get clear enough getting into the corner and he didn’t lift. Once he did that, I knew, I was just trying to do everything I could to stay off of him and it’s just so tight there. Once I got loose, there was nothing I could do. I know he is in the Playoff hunt, so I didn’t want to do that.”
ON THE INCIDENT:
“Our Kroger Clicklist Chevy was pretty good. I got a good restart there and I was under the No. 88 and it’s so hard to pass here, so when you have an opportunity I wanted to try to clear him into (Turn) 2 and once he didn’t lift getting into the corner and as much as I was hoping he would. I was side-by-side and I tried to do everything I could to stay low and stay off of him. Once the air kind of started getting taken away I was along for the ride. I knew he was in the Playoff hunt. I didn’t want to do that to him. I was doing everything I could to stay off of him once I got loose I was trying to sacrifice myself and not him and unfortunately I got both of us.”
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