MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
BOJANGLES’ SOUTHERN 500
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 1, 2019
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd Kyle Larson, No. 42 Clover Camaro ZL1
7th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Chevrolet Accessories Camaro ZL1
10th Austin Dillon, No. 3 American Ethanol Camaro Zl1
12th Chris Buescher, No. 37 Kroger Fast Lane to Flavor Camaro ZL1
16th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Throwback Camaro Zl1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Eric Jones (Toyota)
2nd Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
3rd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
4th Kevin Harvick (Ford)
5th Brad Keselowski (Ford)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday, September 8 at 2:00 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd
WHAT ELSE DID YOU NEED TO WIN THE RACE?
“Six inches less in the spoiler probably, for everybody. It was just really hard to pass. I think this package has been good for a lot of places but here. It’s a high grip track, already narrow. It was just tough to pass. I felt better than the 18 there at the end. Anytime I got within a few car links from him, I would lose a lot of grip. It came down to restarts and pit stops. We just didn’t have the greatest restarts there to allow Eric (Jones) to get by me and then that last green flag stop was not as fast as the 18 or the 20. I’m disappointed about that, but we had some good stops and some bad ones. But, all in all, it was a good day. Good to get another good finish here. It was nice to have a shot to win. We thought we would have a dominating car after practice, but we were still a top-3 car. I thought it would be a little easier.”
YOU LED 44 LAPS TONIGHT AND YOU HAD CONTROL OF THE RACE AT TIMES, BUT WHAT WAS THE THING YOU NEEDED AT THE END TO BE ABLE TO GET ERIC JONES (WINNER)?
“Eric (Jones) did a good job on that last restart to get by me and I was better than him throughout that run, but I could never do anything with him just because the dirty air was really bad. It’s a worn-out surface and the groove was already narrow and it was extra difficult. I feel like both the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and I were a little bit better than he was at the end, but I couldn’t do nothing with him. So, that part of it was frustrating. But still, it was good to have a good run. It was a good day for our Clover Chip Ganassi Racing team. So, we led some laps and was able to challenge a little bit there at the end. I wish we could have got it done, but to come away with a Top 3 at the Southern 500 is not too bad.”
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT YOU’RE LOCKED-INTO THE PLAYOFFS. DOES THAT MAKE YOU BREATHE A LITTLE EASIER HEADING INTO INDIANAPOLIS NEXT WEEKEND?
“Yes. I don’t know. I feel like we were going to have a good shot to make it after the last few weeks we’ve had. It would have been nice to get a win today, but yeah, it’s good to be locked-in and to look ahead to the Playoffs. We’ve been running really strong here lately. So, we’ve just got to keep going.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 CHEVROLET ACCESSORIES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th
“I thought our Camaro was going to be bulletproof and we just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time and got some damage. It hurt the left-front toe. I just couldn’t dodge the cars, there was like five or six of them in front of me. We just ended up getting collected. I’m proud of the crew for getting the toe straightened back out. We got the fenders to clear and I didn’t think we would run that good after we got all that damage. But we raced our way back up to seventh. Overall, we had a race winning car and we led a lot of laps early. We just have to seal the deal. We have to have solid pit stops all night, we have to keep our track position, and I have to dodge cars better when they are wrecking.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 10th
“It has been hard mentally for everybody on this team across the board and I’m glad my grandfather (Richard Childress) stuck with us and believed in us. It was really nice to give him a good run in his car tonight, that was special too. I love Darlington, it’s so much fun to race here. I wish we raced here two times. It’s just a fun track to race.”
“I hope we have a little bit more speed next week to kind of dictate what we want to do there at the end. I have to thank American Ethanol for letting us put this paint scheme on every year. It’s such a good deal when we come here for the Throwback Weekend and you can tell how much fun it has brought to the track.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY THROWBACK CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 16th
“I had at least 15 years with a lot of luck on my side, 7 years of championships and having 2 or 3 bad ones is just part of it. I keep saying that we’re getting and tonight we showed it, from the way we qualified to how we ran on those stages. I was running fourth when that accident took place in turn three and I just had nowhere to go.”
HOW DO YOU VIEW INDIANAPOLIS? YOU ARE GOING TO GO IN 18 POINTS DOWN, IN A MUST-WIN SCENARIO IN ALL LIKELIHOOD. DO YOU FEEL THAT WAY OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE POINTS CAN GET YOU INTO THE PLAYOFFS?
“Yeah, I mean we are running out of days and if we miss it, it’s just going to be by a few I believe. If I look back over the first half of the season, I see a lot of races where we gave away a few points. So, it’s kind of unfair to put all the pressure on one race in Indy. But it is what it is and we are going to go there to win a race. I felt like we could have been a top 3 or 4 car and really help ourselves, but it is what it is. At least my car looked cool. I’m very happy to have that throwback, with Ally, Chevrolet and all the support from my family and friends. We’ll go to Indy and see what happens.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICK AUTOGUARD/CITY CHEVROLET THROWBAC CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 21st
“I think we were sixth, maybe seventh, there and everything was going pretty well. I guess the guys started wrecking in front of us. We passed the beginning of it and somebody got hooked back up the track or something and we hit them square. From there, we were just kind of off the pace and had to ride it out until the end.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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