MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
SOUTH POINT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 15, 2019
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Playoff Contender)
4th * Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA FILTERS Camaro ZL1
6th * Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1
7th * William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1
8th * Kyle Larson, No. 42 Clover Camaro ZL1
11th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Chevy Playoff Contender)
1st Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
2nd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3rd Brad Keselowski (Ford)
4th * Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
5th Ryan Blaney (Ford)
UNOFFICIAL CURRENT PLAYOFF RANK (Following Round 1 of 10)
POS. DRIVER (* = Chevy Contender)
1. Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)
2. Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3. Joey Logano (Ford)
4. Kyle Busch (Toyota)
5. Brad Keselowski (Ford)
6. *Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
7. Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
8. * Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
9. * William Byron (Chevrolet)
10. Ryan Blaney (Ford)
11. * Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)
12. Aric Almirola (Ford)
13. Ryan Newman (Ford)
14. * Kurt Busch (Chevrolet)
15. Clint Bowyer (Ford)
16. Erik Jones (Toyota)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Richmond Raceway with the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday, September 21 at 7:30 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA FILTERS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th
“It was a solid top-five. I feel like we finally got our car going pretty good the last two or three runs, which was good, and a good time to do it. We just got some damage on the restart and he had to come down to pit road and fix it. We just couldn’t take a chance on cutting a tire. I felt like we were closer today than we have been the past few weeks, so that was nice. Hopefully, we can have cars like that for the next nine weeks.
ALTHOUGH YOU DIDN’T WIN, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN NUMBER ONE, BUT ARE YOU OVERALL PRETTY HAPPY WITH HOW YOU FINISHED AND WHAT YOU SAW IN YOUR CAR?
“I’m glad our car drove better today, so I think it’s an improvement.”
YOU GUYS SEEM TO BE REALLY QUICK IN THE NIGHT END TO THE RACE
“Yeah, our NAPA FILTERS Camaro, we finally got it going pretty good there at the end, I felt like. We got a little damage on that restart and just couldn’t risk cutting the tire. So, we got behind. The guys did a good job of fixing it for what we could. We just needed to catch back up just to see if we could run with those guys. But I thought we were a lot better tonight than we’ve been the past few weeks and more competitive, for sure. So, like I told these guys a minute ago, I feel like we can have cars that drive like that for the next nine weeks, I think we’ll be just fine.”
ON THE RESTARTS, THEY WERE CRAZY. ARE WE GOING TO SEE THESE THROUGHOUT THE PLAYOFFS?
“Yeah, I would assume so. It’s unfortunate that you can just barely touch somebody and you have a flat tire. But, that’s kind of the box that we’re in. That really needs to be addressed because it’s really hard to be aggressive and not make a little mistake here and there. But that’s what we have to work with right now and it is what it is. So, onward.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
“We just didn’t fire off very good. As the race ran, we got our car much better. I think kind of the in between from day to night was the best we were. When it grouped up there at the end, it helped out some of the other cars. But, proud of my guys. I wish we would have gotten some more stage points, but we’ll take sixth.”
“I think we ran about where we should have run. Avoiding some of the mess was definitely a good thing. I’m just proud of our guys and we didn’t have any issues.”
WHAT ARE YOU MOST FRUSTRATED ABOUT TODAY IN PARTICULAR?
“Just not getting stage points, really. That’s frustrating. The racing is tough. You just get blocked, guys changing lanes. It’s just super frustrating, but everybody has to do it. That’s just part of it. Overall, it wasn’t too bad of a day.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th
“We just had to recover. I don’t really know what happened there. I was just running on the wall on the back straightaway and got hit in the left rear. I thought the tire was going to last and hold up. It cleared the fender for a while and it obviously had a cut in it already. That was a big bummer. We were really fortunate that the caution came out when we spun. That was really good for us. Overall, we were able to rally to a seventh-place finish. So, that’s not bad.”
“It was crazy. You think about all of the things that can go wrong in a race. It’s tough, you have to really manage the whole race and recover from things that happen. It seemed like every car has something that happened during this race, so you just have to recover from it.”
WE HAVEN’T HEARD YOU THAT MAD ON THE RADIO IN A LONG TIME. HOW DID YOU COMPOSE YOURSELF IN THAT SITUATION?
“Yeah, I was just really frustrated. We had a great day going. We were just racing there and I didn’t really expect that to happen. But we had to recover and rebound from it, which we did, so that was good.”
THE HENDRICK CARS WERE PRETTY STRONG TODAY. WHERE IS YOUR CONFIDENCE LEVEL AT GOING INTO THESE LAST NINE RACES?
“Yeah, it was good. I feel like 1.5-mile tracks, at least for us, have been a little bit of a struggle. So, it’s good to get a top-10 finish, rally, and hopefully have a good run going into Richmond.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th
“Our car was better than I thought it would be. We were able to battle up front there in the second stage. Then, we had the pit road penalty and had to come from the back. The restarts were crazy and I was just being safe. It probably cost us a little bit, but we still got a top-10 out of the day and some decent stage points. So, all-in-all, it wasn’t a bad day.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined due to damage sustained in crash; Finished 39th
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE RACING THAT LED TO THAT?
“We were trying to go for the same spot, in the middle. We ended up four wide, got a fender rub and the day is done. It just happens that fast.”
THE WAY THAT THESE CARS RACE THESE DAY, WAS EVERY RESTART LIKE THAT?
“It wasn’t as animated, but everyone wants to try to get in the middle and that’s where you make up the most spots. Martin Truex Jr. and I were going for the same piece of real estate.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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