NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FOLDS OF HONOR QUIKTRIP 500
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 20, 2022
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1
2nd ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1
4th DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1
5th COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES CAMARO ZL1
6th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
10th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st William Byron (Chevrolet)
2nd Ross Chastain (Chevrolet)
3rd Kurt Busch (Toyota)
4th Daniel Suarez (Chevrolet)
5th Corey LaJoie (Chevrolet)
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Circuit of The Americas with the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday, March 27, at 3:30 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner
WILLIAM BYRON BRINGS IT HOME FOR HIS THIRD CAREER WIN. YOU JUST GOT OUT OF THE CAR AND SAID “THAT WAS FUN.” YOU HAVE A SUPERSPEEDWAY CAR, AN INTERMEDIATE SET UP – WHAT WAS THIS DAY LIKE IN THE END?
“It was so different. You know honestly the last few laps there, just trying to manage the gap to Bubba (Wallace) and trying to not get too far out front. My spotter Brandon (Lines), it’s his first win so congrats to him and just thanks to this whole team. They’ve done a great job this year. There’s a lot of changes with the Next Gen car.
The Liberty University Chevrolet was awesome there. We had a pretty rough practice; worked hard on it and got it handling well. Like I told you, it was kind of an intermediate style with a little bit of superspeedway to it, so it was lot of fun. Thanks to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. Super exciting.”
HOW ABOUT THIS CROWD? PACKED STANDS HERE TO SEE AN ATLANTA RACE LIKE WE’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
“It’s so cool. I think these fans saw one heck of a race. It was certainly long from my seat. It was mentally taxing. Just thanks to all the fans for coming out. Been an awesome weekend. I got the win last night in the Late Model too, so it’s been a lot of fun.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd
LOSE SOME LAPS, GET THE LAPS BACK. IN POSITION AT THE END OF THIS RACE, ENDED UP THIRD.
“Maybe second. What a day, Regan. That’s the fight, that’s the fight in Trackhouse. This Gen 7 car to take a lick like that, blow a tire out of nowhere leading. Just cruising, blow a right rear, slam the wall, I thought our day was over. Our guys went underneath the car, got the tow closer and we got the balance back where I could drive it and this Advent Health Chevy was fast. It was so fast. I mean we were fighting with William (Byron) there at the beginning. So cool to race with buddies again. I only have a few, but the last two weeks I’ve been able to race with buddies. Can’t thank everybody at Trackhouse, the Moose, Advent Health, everybody that’s been on this car. Justin Marks and his family for what they do for me and Daniel Suarez. What a teammate to push me there at the end.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th
SECOND TOP-FIVE ALREADY THIS SEASON. YOU GUYS BOUNCED OFF THE WALL. YOU HAD A PENALTY ON PIT ROAD. WHAT WAS YOUR DAY LIKE?
“It was just like that, up and down. Our No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet was fast. We did a good job on pit road. We had fast pit stops. When we have a fast Chevrolet Camaro, it makes things easier. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing has been working very, very hard to build cars like this. We just have to keep it up. We have a few trophies coming in the near future.”
COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
“We did exactly what we set out to do today. We made Atlanta Motor Speedway like a superspeedway. We missed the wrecks and put our No. 7 Fraternal Order of Eagles Camaro ZL1 there at the end and got a top-five finish. It’s great to start our season with three top-15’s and now one top-five. Hopefully, we can maintain the momentum over the next couple of weeks and put ourselves in a good points position through the summer. Thank you to everyone at Spire Motorsports and the No. 7 team for all the hard work to continue to build fast Chevy’s.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
“It was crazy, for sure. Hopefully it was fun to watch because I felt like it was wild from my seat. It was very much so like a Daytona or Talladega. Just trying to position yourself there at the right spot and hope it goes your way.”
JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th
“Obviously, Chris (Buescher) and I were going for the same real estate there at the end, so neither of us were really to blame. I did not want to be forced down below the red and white line. I have been bitten by that rule in the past, so I obviously did not want to go below it, and I was not going to check up either. We had a really strong No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1 all day, but we were just unlucky at the end.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined due to damage sustained in an accident on lap 208.
“We were just coming to the end of the stage. He (Denny Hamlin) was just trying to help me get a run down the front stretch. He just got to me in the corner and got me loose. I hate that happened, but it’s a product of this racing and product of pushing; trying to draft and get your lane going. Nothing is intentional.
Obviously, I wish we were still out there and both of us racing. The good thing is we have a win already. Two DNF’s in a row isn’t what we want, but our No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy is fast. We were able to drive to the front a few different times and avoid a couple different wrecks. I was happy with the car. The handling was off early, but we got it better. I know the speed was there to contend. We’ll move along and go have some fun on a road course.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/SWEETLEAF CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 200.
YOU WERE LEADING AND HAD A FAST CAR. I HEARD YOUR CREW CHIEF SAY ON THE RADIO THAT YOU HAD A TIRE GO DOWN. DID YOU HAVE ANY INDICATION?
“No, I was just riding around and I felt really good with our No. 47. Kroger / SweetLeaf Camaro. It was really, really fast. We drove right up to the front from the back there at the start of the race. You saw a few tires let go with people leading, running in the front. I don’t know if with all the speed we have here, if the right rear can’t hang on or what.
The JTG Daugherty guys brought a really fast car. It was another race where I felt like we were running up front. We’ve done that quite often this year. We missed it last weekend in Phoenix, but we’ll go get them at COTA. Our guys are continuing to build really good race cars and that’s all we can ask for. We’ll keep trying to put ourselves in position. I had fun.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 100.
“William (Byron) and I had a good run through (turns) one and two. Got to the lead and he pushed me down the backstretch. I knew the Toyotas were going to go opposite of us, so I felt like having the No. 24 block bottom and me go to the top would keep the Chevy’s up front. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) decided to stick with me. I know he probably thought he was doing us a favor, but you can’t push on the left rear on exit off turn four going as fast as we’re going. He just turned me and it took us both out of the race.”
“It was the end of Stage One. We were going to get a run down the front stretch right there, so I don’t know why he’s pushing dead center, at the three-quarter mark. It’s part of it I guess. It was fun racing there for a while with a really fast No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevy. My feelings are hurt. Just two weeks in a row we’ve been taken out of the race.”
TY DILLON, NO. 42 ALSCO UNIFORMS CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 100.
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE AND WHAT DID YOU SEE?
“I don’t know. We were taking it easy. We had a penalty on pit road, so we had to restart last there. I was just kind of chilling. I was trying to slow down with the wreck and the No. 14 (Chase Briscoe), I don’t know what he was looking at or doing. He just ran right through me and ended our day. I knew we had a good enough No. 42 Alsco Uniforms Camaro ZL1 to hopefully get up front with good track position and good pit stops. Just hate that it ended our day early.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY?
“It’s really hard to pass and you need help (to pass). I wasn’t up front enough to really tell you a lot, but it was really hard to pass. Even if you were handling better, if somebody could just stay in the middle lane, you could hardly get around them unless you had a massive run and they messed up. Track position matters. We were going to need to have good pit stops. Hopefully we would have been up front, but it wasn’t our day.”
NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 16 CHEVYLINERS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 24.
“I just got loose there through (turns) one and two. It was still early in the race, so I wasn’t pushing it. I was just trying to bide my time and stay patient. It’s such a long race. It’s unfortunate. I hate it for the ChevyLiners.com team and everyone at Kaulig Racing. They’ve been putting in so many hours this year. My goal was to complete all the laps and finish the race. The No. 16 Camaro ZL1 was fast, it was just a mistake.”
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
