NASCAR CUP SERIES
BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 18, 2021
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE
3rd WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE
5th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
8th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 US AIR FORCE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN CAMARO ZL1 1LE
12th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 FOOD CITY/CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
14th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 MOOSE FRATERNITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
15th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
2nd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3rd William Byron (Chevrolet)
4th Ryan Blaney (Ford)
5th Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the South Point 400 on Sunday, September 26, at 7 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Race Winner
KYLE MAKES IT HAPPEN WITH A PASS ON KEVIN HARVICK. A BRISTOL WIN IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, BUT HOW DID YOU GET THAT DONE?
“Yeah, that was an awesome race. It was so cool to be able to race there for the win. Obviously Harvick and Chase got together. Chase was upset. Kind of held him up. It got Harvick having to move around and use his tires up off the bottom.”
“I started to get some dive-ins working off of two, got a big run, decided to pull the trigger, slide him, squeeze him a little bit. Then he had me jacked up down the frontstretch. It was wild.”
“But had my hands full. Thanks to Valvoline, everybody that helps on this Hendrick Motorsports car. Beautiful paint scheme. Two wins with it. Thanks to Valvoline. Thanks, Mr. H. Wish you were here. So cool.”
HOW ABOUT WINNING ONE IN FRONT OF THE BRISTOL FANS?
“I love this place. This is by far my favorite track. This is why. You guys are amazing, loud. We feel the energy while we’re out there racing. Thanks, everyone, for spending your hard-earned money to come watch us putting on a show. I look forward to the rest of the year.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rd
YOU ARE INTO THE NEXT ROUND BY 2 POINTS. YOU HAD THE PERFORMANCE YOU NEEDED TODAY, BUT WOW, TALK ABOUT THOSE CLOSING LAPS.
“Honestly, I don’t think I breathed for 100 laps. I was honestly just trying to go as hard as I could. I mean, I don’t know. I had the best seat in the house for the leaders getting together. I was just trying to make as much speed as I could. I felt like that was what our car had, and we were just trying to hold off the No. 12 (Ryan Blaney) and just drive it as hard as I could. It was a pretty awesome moment that we could pull through being 18 points out and come into this race and advance is pretty amazing.”
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET THROUGH THESE NEXT ROUNDS AND IMPROVE ON?
“I think we’re going to some really good tracks. We won on a 1.5-mile earlier this year. The ROVAL, we’ve been really fast there and have had a number of poles on road courses, so I feel like we just had to get through this round. We had a really unfortunate start to it and we made up for it tonight. Thanks to Axalta, Chevrolet, and Mr. Hendrick, and everybody back at the shop. It’s pretty awesome.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 5th
THE FIRST PART OF THE RACE DIDN’T LOOK THAT GOOD, BUT THE SECOND PART WAS REALLY GOOD. YOU ADVANCED PLUS 10. TALK ABOUT THE EVENING.
“It was an interesting night, for sure. We were pretty awful at the start of the race. Greg (Ives, crew chief) threw everything, including a laptop at it, I think. I heard there was a laptop casualty there during the race, it was so bad (laughs).”
“I just started really out of the race track and it took a lot of adjusting on it to get it where we needed it; and it was obviously really fast there at the end. I’m just proud of everybody on this No. 48 team for not giving up. My mistake at Darlington kind of put us in this box; us and the No. 24 (William Byron). I’m really glad the No. 24 made it because if they wouldn’t have, that would have been on me, too.”
“I’m just appreciative to make it through this round. It’s Ally’s first time in the Playoffs and we want to get them as far as we can and try to go chase a championship. There are some good tracks coming up for us this round and I’ve just got to go do my job and not make any more mistakes and have a good rest of the Playoffs.”
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 US AIR FORCE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 8th
“Solid day for the Air Force Chevy. Glad we could get them a top ten run there. We had some damage on the right side and the balance was just a bit tight to run further forward than we did. But proud of the effort and hope we can keep the good runs going.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 FOOD CITY/CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 12th
TYLER, TWO POINTS SHORT OF MAKING IT INTO THE ROUND OF 12. WHAT A FIGHT. DOWN A LAP AT ONE POINT. I CAN’T IMAGINE HOW FRUSTRATING IT MUST BE TO KNOW ALL YOU NEED ARE TWO MORE SPOTS AND YOU’RE IN.
“Yeah, unfortunately we certainly gave up more than two spots over the course of this first round. Darlington, getting stuck down a lap at Richmond. Not just one key opportunity, but there was a number that was the difference.”
“One situation, the situation tonight, doesn’t really stick out as the one that makes it sting. It was just unfortunate getting to the Playoffs, we don’t really have the pace that we had to just point our way into the Playoffs leaderboard.”
“Missed it by two. Have the races we did. It kind of all adds up. For us to miss it by two and run the way we did isn’t a surprise.”
“Yeah, it stinks, but we still get to go race the last, I don’t know, six or seven races we have on the schedule. Good tracks for us. Our starting spot and pit stall won’t be as good, but everything else on the racetrack will be. We’ll make the most out of those races.”
YOU NEVER GAVE UP AND ALMOST STILL MADE IT IN.
“Yeah, well, I mean, winners never quit. Hopefully one day the right break will come our way. We continue to learn and get better even though we didn’t make it through to the Round of 12.”
“We feel as a team we were able to pick up on some things that are going to help us when we come back here next year or go to another track, short track.”
“We’ll see where it goes from here. Yeah, we’re not racing for a championship anymore, but we still have a lot to race for with this team. Make the most with the rest of the races we have.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 15th
“Good job by everyone tonight on this Richard Childress Racing team. We fell behind a little in the middle of the race, but Justin Alexander came through clutch with a strategy to get us back on the lead lap, and we were able to climb back into the top-15 in the final stage. We were just too tight to really make anything happen. Everyone on this Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet team hung in there through all of the twists and turns tonight.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 19th
“Really disappointing effort today. That was not a championship-type effort. We missed it big time. We had bad luck last week and we have no shot at a championship this year. We have to race for pride, dignity and honor for the next few weeks. The team is shutting down and we’re eliminated early. That’s not the way we wanted this to go. Maybe we can crawl our way back up to a fifth to tenth-range in points. But tonight was not a night to miss the setup.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 25th
YOU DON’T FEEL YOU WERE RACED VERY WELL BY KEVIN HARVICK.
“Well, it’s something he does all the time. He runs into your left side constantly at other tracks. Sometimes it does cut down your left side. Other times it doesn’t. He did it to me at Darlington a few weeks ago because he was tired of racing with me. Whether he did it on purpose, it doesn’t matter. At some point, you’ve got to draw the line. I don’t care who he is or how long he’s been doing it. I’m going to stand up for myself and my team and we’ll go on down the road.”
THIS HAPPENED AT A LOT OF PLACES YOU SAID. THINGS LIKE THIS TYPICALLY HAPPEN AT BRISTOL.
“I just ran my line. I’m super happy for Kyle (Larson, race winner). He’s had a heck of a year. He’s a good dude and a great race car driver. He deserves the accomplishments and deserves the success. I’m happy for him and happy for Team Hendrick. I wish I could have gotten our Hooters Chevrolet in Victory Lane, but we’ll try again next week.”
About Chevrolet
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