MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
SOUTH POINT HOTEL & CASINO 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 16, 2018
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Playoff Contender)
2nd *KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR VEGAS STRONG CAMARO ZL1
9TH RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 LIBERTY NATIONAL CAMARO ZL1
11TH *AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOWFROST CAMARO ZL1
12TH REGAN SMITH, NO. 95 PROCORE CAMARO ZL1
14TH AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1
15th CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 NATURAL LIGHT RACE DAY RESUME CAMARO ZL1
19th *ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1
22nd *JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1
35th *CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Chevy Playoff Contender)
1ST Brad Keselowski (Ford)
2nd *Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
3rd Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
4th Joey Logano (Ford)
5TH Ryan Blaney (Ford)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Richmond Raceway with the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday, September 22 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR VEGAS STRONG CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd
YOU CAME CLOSE AGAIN TO GETTING THE WIN. HOW CLOSE WERE YOU TO MAYBE GETTING THE VICTORY?
“Yeah, the restarts a couple of them worked out for me and a couple of them didn’t. But, was happy to end up second there. Didn’t really expect to get to second there on that final restart, but it was pretty hectic. Just glad we had a good day after the tire issue we had early in the race. So, yeah, good points day.”
WITH ALL THE ATTRITION WITH THE PLAYOFFS DRIVERS HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES THIS GIVE YOU HEADING INTO RICHMOND?
“I don’t know, I mean you just have to take it race by race. I mean, (Brad) Keselowski has got a ton of confidence right now. I don’t think anybody besides him can really lean on confidence. So, we had a good test at Richmond, but that doesn’t really mean anything until you go there and have a good couple of practices and hopefully a good race.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOWFROST CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th
WHAT A RUN TODAY COMING FROM LAST TO FINISH 11TH:
“Yeah, I’m proud of our guys. They brought a really fast race car. We gave up a lot of track position throughout the day, not just from starting in the back, but on pit stops we really struggled. But, you know, proud of the effort. I felt like I got out all I could out of it. Bummer at the end. We needed a top 10. Eleventh is good, but racing my teammate to the line there I thought we would get him, but we didn’t.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 19th
WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK ON THE NEXT TWO? ON THE ONE HAND YOU HAD A GOOD CAR, ON THE OTHER HAND YOU DIDN’T FINISH WHERE YOU WANTED TO TODAY:
“Yeah, I mean, we ran better than I really expected to coming here. So, I think that gives me some optimism going forward, just super frustrated.”
WHAT CAN YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THIS?
“I mean that is the most speed we have had on a 1.5-mile all year. I was running 50 percent probably maybe 60 percent that first run towards the end and just mowing guys down. Our long run speed was so good. We were too tight to restart, but our long run speed was really good. So, that is super encouraging, unfortunately we don’t have another 1.5-mile for a while, but we can turn it around at Richmond too.”
WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED TO YOU THERE AT THE END?
“It looked like they got jumbled up in front of us. I got jumbled up the No. 31 kind of slid up in front of us. I was loose off and cars kind of backed up into us at the same time. So, hard racing happened to us at the end, but we should have been pretty far in front of that and not in that position to being with.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 22nd
WE SAW YOU DUMPING WATER ON YOU BEFORE THE RACE. DID SOMETHING GO WRONG WITH YOUR COOLING SYSTEM DURING THE RACE?
“No, nothing went wrong. That was part of my cooling system, it worked great. If you are ever hot get your shirt wet and walk around outside it feels great. I did that all day long. I just took bottles of water and just sprayed my suit. It worked great.”
WITH THE ATTRITION TODAY DOES THAT GIVE YOU ANY SOLACE? A LOT OF THE PLAYOFF DRIVERS HAD PROBLEMS DOES THAT HELP?
“No, it helps, but we could have closed with a top five finish that would have really helped and given us a cushion. Today was really a good day for the Lowe’s team. We had good speed in the car, good pit stops, everything was going well and unfortunately, cut a right-front tire when we touched the No. 41 off of Turn 2. I don’t know how next week is going to go, I really don’t and I sure as hell don’t know how the ROVAL is going to go. So, sure, we finished higher than some guys, but any cushion we could have gotten today would have been nice.”
WE HAVE HEARD THAT THE ROVAL WAS THE UNKNOWN, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE TODAY WAS THE UNKNOWN?
“Playoffs, man. Everybody is trying so hard. It means so much to everybody to be in the Playoffs and have a shot at a championship. Everybody is just trying really hard.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 34th
“Today was one that just didn’t go our way. I fired off tight on each run, but my GEICO Camaro ZL1 would come to me the longer we would run. It’s unfortunate to have our day ruined by a blown tire because we had a lot more than what we got to show everyone. The right-side damage was pretty significant to the nose of our car, but we didn’t give up. It could have completely ended our day, but my team worked hard in the garage to get everything fixed and get me back out there. None of us wanted to quit. We still wanted to get all that we could out of this race and gain as many spots as possible. All we can do is hold our heads up and regroup to be ready for them next week in Richmond.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined in crash with Jamie McMurray on Lap 211
THERE WAS NOWHERE TO GO FOR YOU. YOU ALSO SAID SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR SHOULDER ON THE RADIO AFTERWARD. NOW YOU ARE HOLDING YOUR SHOULDER A LITTLE GINGERLY. WHAT HAPPENED?
“Yeah, I guess it just got caught in the wheel. But it popped really big and then I kind of got stopped and got to messing with it and it popped really big again. So, all good now and we’ll try to rebound next week. We had a really good car today and yeah, almost, just barely clipped him (Jamie McMurray). I just hate it. So many guys fell out today. I feel like half the top 16 has crashed. So, we’ve just got to finish, I guess.”
HOW ARE YOU?
“I’m okay now. Like I said on TV a second ago, it (his shoulder) popped really big there, my hand kind of got caught in the wheel and then I got to messing with it after and it popped really big again, so all good and move on to Richmond.”
WE THOUGHT THE ROVAL WAS GOING TO BE THE ONE THAT WAS GOING TO SHAKE THINGS UP, BUT WE HAVE HAD A NUMBER OF PLAYOFF DRIVERS HAVE ISSUES TODAY. HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THINGS?
“Yeah, I don’t think it does. I mean, it just puts us in a hole to start, so not good.”
YOU SAID YOUR SHOULDER JUST POPPED OUT?
“Yeah, it hurt really bad when it happened and kind of got to messing with it and it popped again. Yeah, it’s better now.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined on Lap 211 due to right rear tire issue and subsequent crash with Chase Elliott
DID YOU KNOW THE RIGHT REAR TIRE WAS RUBBING?
“There was no smoke inside the car and the spotter said that he couldn’t see any smoke. So, typically it will run a while. But yeah, I’m assuming that the right rear tire must have rubbed a hole in it, and I don’t know why I chose to run the bottom on that lap. I wish I had stayed against the wall. But sometimes those look big but it actually didn’t hurt that bad. It was a big day for Gearwrench. They actually gave away a new Camaro to a customer. We’ve had a great week. I had a good car. I’ve had a good car for the last three weeks, so that’s unfortunate.”
THAT WAS A HARD HIT. DID THAT START WITH CONTACT WITH RYAN BLANEY?
“Yeah, I’m not sure. I don’t know if the No. 12 got into the back of me on exit or just got really close. I slid up and I hit the wall. I didn’t hit that hard and I didn’t see any smoke inside the car. The spotters thought everything looked good, but I only made it like two more laps before the tire blew out.”
HOW HARD WAS THAT HIT?
“Yeah, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I wrecked in that exact same spot in a Busch car back in 2002 or something and it hurt really bad, like kind of head ringing afterwards, but that, honestly the hit it must have looked spectacular because it didn’t hurt that bad.”
HOW SLICK WAS THE TRACK?
“It wasn’t bad. This place always on Sunday is extremely slick compared to Saturday, but I thought it was pretty normal. It was hot inside the car, but the top was really good today and the bottom. It was a pretty racy track.”
HOW FRUSTRATING WHEN YOU HAD SUCH A GOOD CAR TODAY?
“I mean, gosh, I feel like our whole year has kind of went like that. I mean there is nothing you can do about it. I was thrilled with our speed. I felt like at Darlington and Indy we had really good cars, and we felt like yesterday after practice we had a little better car today. I thought we had a car that was capable of winning today. It’s frustrating, but it’s much more frustrating to run bad.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Eliminated from competition due to a rear suspension issue
“I thought the beginning of our day went pretty good. Then in the wall the first time off (Turn) 2 and we were able to fix it after that and then pitted again, same spot, so just kind of ended our day after that.”
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