NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
QUAKER STATE 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
JULY 10, 2022
CHASE ELLIOTT SCORES HOMETOWN WIN AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Chevrolet’s Fourth-Consecutive NCS Win; 11th of 2022
Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team scored their third win of 2022 at his hometown track of Atlanta Motor Speedway.
· The win is Elliott’s 16th-career victory in 240 NASCAR Cup Series starts.
· Elliott is now the only driver to score three NASCAR Cup Series wins thus far this season.
· Elliott’s triumph is the 11th of the season for the Camaro ZL1, as well as extended Chevrolet’s streak to four-consecutive wins.
· The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 825 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
2nd ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1
4th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1
6th DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1
7th JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
2nd Ross Chastain (Chevrolet)
3rd Austin Cindric (Ford)
4th Erik Jones (Chevrolet)
5th Ryan Blaney (Ford)
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, July 17, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with the Ambetter 301 at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner
THAT FINISH WAS CRAZY. YOU WIN BOTH OF THE STAGES TODAY AND FOR THESE FANS HERE AT ATLANTA, THE HOMETOWN BOY DELIVERS. YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF BIG WINS IN YOUR CAREER. I CAN THINK OF ONE IN PHOENIX THAT GOT YOU A TITLE, BUT WHERE DOES THIS RANK ON THE ALL-TIME LIST?
“This one is up there for sure, man. To win at your home track is a really big deal.. I think to any race car driver. I’ve watched a lot of guys do it over the years; Jimmie (Johnson) out in California. We haven’t really had a very good run here, so I felt like today was a great opportunity for us.
But just so proud. This is obviously home for me. Home to a lot of great fans who made a lot of noise today. Home for NAPA right down the road in Atlanta. Couldn’t be more proud of our team. What a car. I’m not sure we’ve ever had a speedway car that good. If we have, I’ve probably wrecked it down at Daytona.
But just, man, what a few weeks it’s been. I feel like I gave one away last week, and to come back and to put on a performance like that, I’m really proud of that.
Excited to get home. It’s going to be a big one tonight. I’m looking forward to it.”
I’VE GOT TO ASK YOU ABOUT THE LAST LAP. YOU HAD TO GO UP AND BLOCK THE NO. 7 (COREY LAJOIE). YOU ACTUALLY SAID “I’M SORRY” ON THE RADIO. WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND ON THAT FINAL LAP?
“Obviously I knew he was going to have a big run. I didn’t really want to give him the bottom, and I tried to give it one real good aggressive block. I felt like I had enough room to kind of give it a second one, and he was just right there on the right side of my back bumper, so was far enough to the backside of the bumper to launch me forward. I hate I tore up some cars, but I don’t know what you do.. either go for the win or don’t. I’m going to choose option A every day of the week.”
WE’VE BEEN LIVE ALL DAY AT THE POOL ROOM WITH RUTLEDGE. IS IT OKAY IF RUTLEDGE RINGS THE SIREN TONIGHT?
“Tell him not to break it now. That thing is really special.
Just thank you guys so much for coming out. Y’all made a lot of noise today. Can’t wait to head back up 400 and get back home. I want to say hey to my mom and dad. I know they’re watching at home. I wish they were here. This is a really special day for us. And just thank you to all the fans here in Georgia who have supported me and supported my family for many years.
Really just proud of this, and we’re going to enjoy it.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd
“I hate that I took the best car here and I tore it up a couple of times. Hats off to Chevrolet and Trackhouse Racing for bringing this fast of a Jockey Chevrolet. Our road crew and our pit crew did an awesome job to rebound through all of the damage repair. We had a shot and I got inside of the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) coming off of (turn) two coming to the checkered and the caution came out. I hope everyone is alright back there.
Awesome job to Corey LaJoie and Spire Motorsports. I really thought into (turn) one when we took the white that I was going to push him to the win. They all just fought for the top and almost gave it to us.”
WHEN YOU LOOK BACK AT THOSE RESTARTS, WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING ANY DIFFERENTLY AND IF SO, WHAT?
“Not the last couple. Earlier, we had the option to take the front row. We were second and I chose behind him (Corey LaJoie) because we were worried about fuel. I knew better.. I should have just taken the front row and dealt with the fuel. We were trying to make sure we were on offense at the end of the day for our Jockey Chevrolet.
On a day like today, I feel like we won way more restarts. I feel like my lane moved when I was in it and I’m proud of that. I’m proud of this car and this team to give me the ability to do that.”
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th
“I thought our day was good. Our No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevy was quick. We needed a tick more speed. I think we had to do some things for handling that slowed us down a little bit. We were up there, but I couldn’t really break out and do much. When I got in the lead there, I wasn’t really quick enough to hold it myself.
We were close. It feels good to just have a good race. We’ve had a rough month, so it’s nice to get a top-five and get some points.”
AS THE RACE ENDED, I HEARD ON THE RADIO “MAN, ONE OF THESE IS GOING TO BE OURS”. DESPITE A GREAT FINISH, DO YOU FIND THIS MOTIVATING OR DISCOURAGING?
“It’s motivating. I think our superspeedway and 1.5-mile stuff has been so good all year. We were close here in the spring in the end and we were close again today. We were close at Talladega and close in Daytona. So, all the superspeedway races, we’ve been really fast. We’re there, we just need to have one play out for us. I would have loved to have run that last lap out. I think Ross (Chastain) and Chase (Elliott) were going to run each other pretty hard in (turns) three and four, and I would have loved to have a chance to make something happen. I feel like we’ve been close at a lot of superspeedways, just haven’t closed one out. I would love to get the No. 43 in victory lane and I hope we can do it before the playoffs.
JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th
“It was a good day again here in Atlanta. I feel like this No. 31 LeafFilter Chevrolet team has succeeded in finding a good, fast, stable setup for the new Atlanta track. So overall it was a good day and just a little bit better than where we were in the spring.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 ALSCO UNIFORMS CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 171; Finished 29th
“We had a great Alsco Chevrolet today at Atlanta Motor Speedway, so it’s a shame that we weren’t able to capitalize on it. The day was going well. We were running up front and competitive. We made a mistake in Stage 3 when I overshot my pit box. That hurt a lot because we didn’t have a lot of time to recover, and it put us far enough back to get caught up in a wreck. We had nowhere to go, but that is the situation I put ourselves in. It’s pretty frustrating because it was very obvious that we had a fantastic car. We’ll head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway to try and rebound.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 171; Finished 30th
“The racing was fine. I thought the track had a little bit less grip. Our No. 24 Axalta Chevy was good out front. We could hang around the top-five. We struggled a little bit there on the pit stop sequence. We took four tires and we started way back, and we just got into someone else’s mess.
We were eighth to finish the stage. Thinking that in the final stage some guys would stay out, we just seemed to net out further back than we thought we would. We ended up like 18th or 19th and had to restart there, and that’s where the wreck happened. It was just unfortunate that we were back there. I don’t know if there is anything we could have really done because we had taken right side tires before then and our tires were pretty old.
We kind of hovered around the top-eight all day and unfortunately we’re out. Thank you to Axalta, Chevrolet and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We’ll keep working hard and it will change soon.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY MILESTONE CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined due to damage sustained after a tire went down on lap 160; Finished 32nd
WAS THERE ANY WARNING ABOUT THE TIRE GOING DOWN AND WAS IT ANY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU WERE FEELING IN MARCH?
“I don’t think we had a tire go down in March. Fortunately, I was one of the guys that didn’t have an issue. But it sounds like I’m the one guy that had an issue today. No warning, we were just cruising around. We had a phenomenal race car. Really proud of Greg (Ives, Crew Chief) and the No. 48 team. We struggled pretty bad back here in March and our Chevy was really, really good today.
No. 48 Ally Milestone Chevy was getting up through the field pretty good there. Bummer that it ended like that, but at least we had a fast race car.”
NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 16 GOLD FISH CASINO SLOTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 34th
“We had an early end to our day in the No. 16 Gold Fish Casino Slots Camaro. We were on track to have a really solid day and showed some speed. Unfortunately, we couldn’t avoid a wreck in front of us that caused heavy damage to the right front. We had nowhere to go, but I hate it for everyone at Kaulig Racing who have been working hard on these cars.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1, sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 92; Finished 35th
“Man, I’m so bummed out for this entire Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road team. We had a fast Chevy today – just ended up a victim of someone else’s mess. Our Chevy was really tight on the first run, then loose on the second run. After that, we were really good and coming. We just had nowhere to go. Thank the Good Lord above that we were okay. The hit looked bad, but the impact wasn’t as bad as it looked. I told myself that we were going to race hard all day rather than riding in the back, but when you got guys out there wrecking half the field, you might as well pick a different strategy. These Next Gen cars are hard to drive, and you’ve got to make them drive better when it’s hot outside. I thought we did a good job making my car get to the bottom. We were making a lot of headway in the race before we got caught up in someone else’s mess. We’re going to keep on keeping on, and work each week to get to Victory Lane. I want to thank Johnny Morris and all of the guys at Bass Pro Shops and TRACKER Off Road, along with everyone at RCR and ECR. We will get there.”
TEAM CHEVY QUICK NOTES
Stage One:
· Due to precipitation, the starting lineup for the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway was determined by the NASCAR rule book.
· Row One and Two of the starting lineup were taken by Chevrolet drivers, led by pole sitter Chase Elliott. Ross Chastain started second; Kyle Larson started third; and last week’s race winner, Tyler Reddick, started fourth.
· Chase Elliott took the Stage One win, his first in his career at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
· Team Chevy Stage One Top-Five:
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 (1st)
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Milestone Camaro ZL1 (2nd)
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Jockey Camaro ZL1 (3rd)
Stage Two:
· During the round of pit stops ahead of the start of Stage Two, Randall Burnett (crew chief) called Tyler Reddick down pit road for a two tire stop, bringing the No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Camaro ZL1 off pit road first for a front row starting spot for the stage.
· The end of Stage Two saw Georgia native, Chase Elliott, take the checkered flag to sweep today’s stage wins.
· This is Elliott’s fifth stage win of 2022, with Elliott now sitting as a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard for the most stage wins thus far this season.
· Team Chevy Stage Two Top-Five:
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 (1st)
Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Camaro ZL1 (2nd)
Post-Race Notes:
Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team scored their third win of 2022 at his hometown track of Atlanta Motor Speedway.
· The win is Elliott’s 16th-career victory in 240 NASCAR Cup Series starts.
· Elliott is now the only driver to score three NASCAR Cup Series wins thus far this season.
· Elliott’s triumph is the 11th of the season for the Camaro ZL1, as well as extended Chevrolet’s streak to four-consecutive wins.
· The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 825 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.
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.
