NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Drive for the Cure 200 (Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, NC)
Saturday, September 29, 2018
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 98 Nutri Chomps Ford Mustang – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW — “It’s pretty special. Winning really two of the most different races we have all year between Eldora and the Roval. Honestly, they had a lot of similarities because we didn’t have very much grip. I found myself a lot of time not even getting over half-throttle, just trying to keep the tires hooked up. Honestly, I can’t believe it. We were so far off in practice. The car was great. The driver was not. I watched a lot of video, a lot of on board stuff trying to get better overnight. It seemed like everyday we came back we’d pick up a second and I knew when we got in the race and I got around guys I could see more of what they were doing and where they were beating me. That was really the biggest key there is just getting around other cars and seeing what they were doing different.”
HOW PERFECT WAS YOUR RACE TODAY? “I wasn’t very good at the beginning. I probably wasn’t aggressive enough maintaining track position and I can’t believe I didn’t run off the track, ever. That’s surprising. Normally on a road course I’m way off running 10th on back and this is the one place that I felt drove like a dirt track instead of a road course. I don’t feel like I drove a perfect race, but these guys gave me a perfect race car. That’s what it’s all about. Ford has given me so many opportunities and put me in good race cars and obviously Stewart-Haas is one of the best.”
DID YOU EXPECT MORE CAUTION FLAGS TODAY? “Yeah, I figured our longest green flag run all day was gonna be about seven or eight laps and we just kept on going. Cole was a huge help the past few days. Cole and I went through sector times trying to figure out where I was losing the most. We watched each others on boards just trying to help each other out. This was definitely a company win. I don’t think I was helping Cole out too much all weekend, but for him to be nice enough and help me out just shows what this team is all about.”
YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO BATTLE ANYONE THE FINAL COUPLE OF LAPS. “Yeah, luckily Hemric had his issue and that kind of let me have a little breathing room. I think with two or three to go I came into the final corner and I overshot it and I was starting to get worried, and I think Justin kind of did the same thing with me. I was definitely getting sick to my stomach. I was at the Ford coach right before the race and I was having these chicken tenders and I ate a ton of them and they were coming back up there those last couple of laps, but this is definitely cool. This is an awesome race track. I’m excited to watch the Cup race tomorrow and I’m sure it will be chaotic.”
WHAT DID YOU THINK WHEN YOU TOOK THE CHECKERED FLAG? “I couldn’t believe it. I was holding back tears the last couple of laps. This year has not been by my standards anywhere near where it needs to be. We’ve wrecked a lot of race cars and I think my best finish was ninth, so I was really down on myself personally. I was just waiting for the caution to come out. I knew it was gonna come at some point and the restarts were crazy getting down into one. Luckily, the good Lord upstairs didn’t bring caution and we were able to hold on.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang – “It’s funny. I complained about not having too much long run speed last week and too much short run speed this weekend. I guess I’ve got to make up my mind, but I’m just over the moon for Chase. He’s had a tough year. He’s been down on himself and this should be all the reason enough for Tony Stewart to put him in a car full-time, so I’m super-excited for my buddy. I’m just thankful we were able to get a nice, solid run. It wasn’t a perfect day. I made my own mistakes. I’ve got to apologize to the 7. Obviously, it was a weird merge off of pit road. The 35 kind of checked up and I was just trying to get out of the way, so it was kind of a bummer that we didn’t have a clean day, but it’s good to come home third and get some stage points. That’s the kind of day I needed, so we’ll move on and go to Dover. I think we can run well and have another good run in our Ford Mustang.”
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU SPUN AT THE END OF STAGE ONE? “I’m the one driving the car and if I spin out by myself the only question is, ‘Why are you driving so hard?’ We just didn’t have the ability to hold on to the rear tires long enough and I was just pushing it too hard to get my 10 points. I lost five of those, so if I miss the next round by five points I can blame myself, but we’ll go on and go to Dover.”
RYAN REED, No. 16 Drive Down A1C Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang – “I felt like when we unloaded I knew I had my work cut out for me. It seems some guys got the track and others had to play catch-up and that’s what I did. I just tried to not rush it all weekend. We got better every single time I was out on the track. We got through the first stage and I learned a lot about racing in traffic and I was just trying to put it to use there. I got some track position when we pitted before the stage. There at the end I was trying to hold some guys off on tires and get a top 10, but either way P11 after just a tough start. It wasn’t tough in any other way than I was just learning the race track. I’m proud of my guys for not giving up on me. I’m proud of them for rallying and I think we’ve got a shot now going to Dover. I think we need some things to go our way, but at least we’ve put ourselves in position to go get to the next round.”
COLE CUSTER, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang – “I think our day, we had a really fast car that I think could have competed for a win, but we just went for the points with the position that we’re in. I had a really fast car and stayed clean. We took our strategy that we were in and it worked out.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE RACE? WAS IT CALMER THAN YOU EXPECTED? “It worked because everybody worked together. If everybody was really aggressive like it probably will be in a couple of years, it will get to be a wreckfest, but today everybody was pretty calm and pretty careful, so it worked out.”
