NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
COCA-COLA 600
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
MAY 29, 2022
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
6th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHEDDAR’S SCRATCH KITCHEN CAMARO ZL1
7th RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/REESE’S CAMARO ZL1
9th KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
10th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
13th TY DILLON, NO. 42 BLACK RIFLE COFFEE COMPANY CAMARO ZL1
14th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1
15th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2nd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
3rd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
4th Chase Briscoe (Ford)
5th Christopher Bell (Toyota)
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, June 5, at World Wide Technology Raceway with the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHEDDAR’S SCRATCH KITCHEN CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE TONIGHT.
“To start with, I was worried about it. I’m not really sure what I have going on, but I’m not 100 percent. Can’t really breath that well; all that fun stuff. So trying to battle that in our longest race of the year is not fun.
Outside of that, it’s tough having a really fast car and having these things keep happening. I don’t know – we may have been in that really big crash, or a couple of them there; so maybe it’s a good thing we had the problem on pit road.
We had a good No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevy. We’ll just keep moving forward.”
YOU WERE ABLE TO BATTLE BACK TO A TOP-10 FINISH.
“The ups is that we had a lot of speed. The downs are flat tires. It’s pretty straightforward. As far as I know, I don’t think there was anything in particular that we did on that one run with the left rear to cause the flat. I just think with having clean air and being able to exit as wide as possible off of turn two every time – you can kind of exit off that bump in turn two and be able to put the car where you want to. A lot of the bumps are in (turns) three and four. I’m guessing I just damaged my tire trying to get the most out of our No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet.
That was frustrating, but we got a lot of stage points. With all of the chaos that happened, we were able to get back to a sixth-place finish. We were able to pass Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) and Michael McDowell through the turf. There’s no splitter to rip off, so I was able to pass two cars there at the end through the turf coming to the line, which was nice and we came home sixth.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th
KYLE LARSON, WE TALKED ABOUT HIM ALL NIGHT. HE PASSED MORE CARS THAN ANYBODY AND STARTED IN THE BACK, THE PENALTIES, THE FIRE IN THE BACK, GETTING IN THE WALL AGAIN. YOU ALMOST HAD A SHOT THERE AT THE END TO WIN IT. HOW DID YOU GUYS STAY IN IT?
“Yeah, long race thankfully. The first half was a struggle for all of us, but I was especially frustrated with myself. To rebound from that and have a shot to win there late was something to be proud of. Our team fought really hard, so I’m happy with that. (Chase) Briscoe was really good that long run there. Wish we would have been just a little bit better so he never would have got to me to work really hard and ultimately spin. You’re kind of gambling on tire stuff there. I think we took two to try and get ourselves the front row, which we did. I think the four tires was just a little bit better than me and got to my inside there through turns 3 and 4. It’s just really tight racing off of 4. The 3 (Austin Dillon) almost had me cleared and we just made contact there and there was a big wreck. Kind of ended my night there.
Again, proud of my Hendrick team. Even going back to yesterday and me making a mistake getting into the wall really put ourselves in a bad spot all night. Our pit stall was terrible having to come around the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) and then the 10 (Aric Almirola) coming around me. The day would have been a lot easier if I just didn’t hit the wall yesterday.”
NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 16 CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 24th
“We had a really good day overall and had some fun driving in the top 10 with our No. 16 Charlotte Knights Camaro ZL1. I got into the wall and had to pit for tires, which put us down a couple laps. We thought we could get back on the lead lap, but we had a parts failure that ultimately ended our day. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t quite make it to the end, but we had a fast car and I think we made some gains.”
JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 27th
“Our No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1 was difficult to manage all day. We fought the car being extremely tight and having little front direction. Unfortunately, our day ended early due to engine troubles. We will move on to St. Louis!”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1, sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 345; Finished 25th
“I just got tight. With these cars, clean air is very important. They were side-by-side in front of me. I was fine in front and eventually I got in the middle of the wake and I got super tight. I put myself in a bad situation there. It was just a tough situation.
I’m just glad Chris (Buescher) is fine. My team has been building rockets. We had the best car out there. It was a struggle for us on pit road. Not my guys, but the situation where we were in with the 22 (Joey Logano) and the 11 (Denny Hamlin). We have to learn from it and come back stronger.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY PATRIOTIC CAMARO ZL1, sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 191; Finished 32nd
WHAT HAPPENED TONIGHT?
“I thought we were in the catbird seat there. We were the first team on new tires. Had a good restart through (turn) one and got ahead of the No. 45 (Kurt Busch). We were going to cycle out really well there; and then they just started wrecking on the bottom and came up into us on the top.
It sucks. It’s chaos out there. You can’t drive the car the slightest bit sideways or you’re wrecked. So, if somebody gets a little bit sideways, then we all wreck. It either takes out other people or they spin to the infield. Just chaos.”
TEAM CHEVY QUICK NOTES
Stage One:
· After having to start at the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments from practice damage repairs, Kyle Larson powered his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 through the field to the 11th spot when a caution fell on lap 32. A pit road penalty during a stop under the caution sent Larson back to the tail of the field for the restart.
· Chase Elliott took the Stage One win; his first stage win of 2022 and his first on the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval.
· There was a strong bowtie showing in the top-10 at the end of the stage, with five Chevrolet drivers scoring stage points.
· Elliott led Chevrolet drivers Tyler Reddick (2nd), Ross Chastain (4th), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (7th), and Alex Bowman (9th) to conclude the 100-lap Stage One.
Stage Two:
· Following a 22nd to fourth run in Stage One, Ross Chastain powered his No. 1 Advent Health Camaro ZL1 to the lead on lap 111; marking the first time in his NCS career that he’s led in the Coca-Cola 600.
· A wreck on lap 191 collected the Camaro ZL1’s of Chase Elliott and William Byron, ending the race for both drivers.
· Restarted Stage Two with a four-lap dash to the end of the stage, Daniel Suarez drove his No. 99 CommScope Camaro ZL1 to the stage win; his second stage win of 2022.
· Suarez led a 1-2 finish for Trackhouse Racing at the end of the stage, with Ross Chastain crossing the line in second-place for his second top-five stage finish of the night.
· Other Chevrolet drivers in the Stage Two top-10 included: Erik Jones (3rd), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (5th) and Tyler Reddick (8th).
Stage Three:
· Ross Chastain took the green/white checkered flag on the top of the leaderboard to end Stage Three; his third stage win of 2022.
· Chastain led Chevrolet to five top-10 results in the Stage Three, including four of the top-five: Kyle Larson (3rd), Tyler Reddick (4th), Daniel Suarez (5th) and Austin Dillon (9th).
Stage Four:
· After a Stage Two win and a top-five Stage Three finish, Suarez was involved in a wreck, with extensive damage forcing the No. 99 CommScope Camaro ZL1 to the garage to end the day. Suarez led 36-laps through his duration in the race.
· In the first of two overtime attempts, the battle for the lead resulted in an accident that collected Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon.
· The final overtime start brought the 600-mile race to an end, with Tyler Reddick leading Chevrolet with a sixth-place finish.
· Joining Reddick in the top-10 from the Team Chevy camp included: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (6th), Kyle Larson (9th) and Alex Bowman (10th).
Post-Race Notes:
· Chevrolet drivers swept the stage wins, with Chase Elliott winning Stage One; Daniel Suarez winning Stage Two; and Ross Chastain winning Stage Three.
· Chevrolet drivers also led at each of the 100-mile markers: Chase Elliott (100 mile; 200 mile); Daniel Suarez (300 mile); Ross Chastain (400 mile; 500 mile); and Kyle Larson (600 mile).
· Chase Elliott continues to hold the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings lead, 34-points over fellow Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain.
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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.
