Austin Dillon and The Dow Chevrolet Team Sidelined From NASCAR Playoffs after Mid-Race Incident at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval
“This was a crazy race. I was having a good run in the Dow Chevrolet and the No. 37 car wiggled in the middle of turns 3 and 4. I don’t know if he had damage or what, but he got loose and when he did I was on the outside of him and I lost it after I tried to miss him. We fixed it and I came back up through there and jumped the curb and I think that’s what cut my tire down going into Turns 3 and 4. I should have just been more patient and waited for more attrition to go out. But, I actually felt pretty comfortable and we were running good. It’s just hard to hold back in a treacherous race and I guess I didn’t do what we needed to do. I’ve got to thank everybody at Dow, American Ethanol, AAA, Chevrolet and RCR/ECR for this year. We’re out of the NASCAR Playoffs and I’m disappointed but we still have a few more chances to win this year.”
-Austin Dillon
Daniel Hemric and the Smokey Mountain Snuff Chevrolet Team Finish 23rd at Charlotte Roval After Late-Race Incident Spoils Fuel Strategy
“I thought it was pretty tame there until the end when the Roval finally lived up to the hype. It was fun to be out there mixing it up and to have shots on restarts racing side-by-side with some of the best in the business, especially knowing this is where I’m going to be next year. It was good to get some experience out here with these guys. Man, what a race car my crew chief Brandon Thomas and everyone on this Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff Chevrolet team brought this week. I’m very appreciative of and very thankful for everyone that took the time away from their families to put the effort in to give me a shot in a fast race car. It was fun battling those guys and at least having a shot to contend for a top-15, top-10 and maybe even more if things went our way. Untimely cautions and a little bit of carnage there at the end resulted in where we finished, but I’m proud of the effort all weekend.”
-Daniel Hemric
Ryan Newman and The Grainger Racing Team Make It Out of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval with an 11th-Place Finish
“From the get-go we battled the same thing that we experienced at the Roval test session – loose and tight conditions through certain corners. We ended up with damage to the Grainger/American Red Cross Camaro ZL1 a few laps into the first practice and didn’t get to run many laps, so qualifying was tough. We lined up 28th. Our goal was to steer clear of trouble once the race started. If I tried to get more out of the Grainger/American Red Cross Camaro ZL1, it wouldn’t respond. It actually slowed down. It also felt like I had no left spring to get through the chicane. Despite the challenges, we kept our nose clean and raced as high as 11th before we got spun out on lap 74. Needless to say I’m not happy with what happened. We had to switch gears and conserve fuel in hopes of regaining some of the track position we lost in case guys could not make it to the end on fuel. Then with six laps to go, it was chaos and we somehow made it out. We finished 11th and that’s respectable for us. I’m happy for all the guys on this No. 31 team. We didn’t give up.”
-Ryan Newman
