NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
COKE ZERO SUGAR 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
AUGUST 28, 2022
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1
2nd TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHEDDAR’S SCRATCH KITCHEN CAMARO ZL1
4th LANDON CASSILL, NO. 77 VOYAGER: CRYPTO FOR ALL CAMARO ZL1
5th NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 62 BEARD MOTORSPORTS / SOUTHPOINT CAMARO ZL1
14th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
17th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1
18th TY DILLON, NO. 42 THORNTONS CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Austin Dillon (Chevrolet)
2nd Tyler Reddick (Chevrolet)
3rd Austin Cindric (Ford)
4th Landon Cassill (Chevrolet)
5th Noah Gragson (Chevrolet)
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will get underway next Sunday, September 4, at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out Southern 500 at 6 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner
Austin Dillon, welcome to the Playoffs. More gratifying to do it this way by racing for it versus the rain?
“100%. Crazy faith. My wife was in there. She was dancing in the rain. I got upset. I said, ‘Don’t be doing that’. She said, ‘Lord, when you have faith like me, you don’t have to worry about it.’ I was like, Okay, okay. I got you, baby.
But Ace was back there with me. We were watching Paw Patrol, watching the Carolina Cowboys winning the PBR event. They said, get ready.
We stayed ready. And I have to thank my teammate Tyler Reddick, BREZTRI, Bass Pro Shops, everybody that makes this thing happen. Dow, who has been with me since my start. We have so many great partners. Chevrolet, Chevrolet, Chevrolet.
Man, we’re in the Playoffs.”
Also what will be talked about is the move to get the lead. Walk me through going into turn one with Austin Cindric.
“There was a lot going on there. I knew that if we got to the white; I was afraid that if I waited too long, I was afraid somebody would wreck behind us, so I wanted to go ahead and get the lead. We were able to get it.
I had a big run to him and then I had my teammate, the 8 (Tyler Reddick), back there. I knew we were in good shape there to the end. He did a good job checking up any kind of run. Just a little too much push there and got him loose.”
How hard was it to stay patient there? I know Pop Pop told you on the radio, ‘Hey, don’t go until the white flag lap. I knew you wanted to go earlier.’
“I felt like I had good teammates and Chevrolet behind me. If I could get the lead, the 2 would not be able to hold onto the draft. We’ve done it in practice enough to know that you’ll lose the tail and it’s hard to get back to it.”
How crazy is it that a body of work of a season, Austin, comes down to getting back on the lead lap right before a rainstorm, dodging a wreck, and then making this happen in the final 21 laps?
“It’s crazy. You just never give up and have faith. We had some tough finishes this year, like Charlotte. I beat myself up over that. I made a good move and just didn’t finish it off. Today we finished it off.
I’m so proud of these guys and I’m glad to be going to Victory Lane.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHEDDAR’S SCRATCH KITCHEN CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd
YOU AND AUSTIN WENT 1-2 TODAY. WHAT WERE THOSE LAST 21 LAPS LIKE?
“Because we had to pit before pit road was open, before the rain came; I never got to line up behind all the lead lap cars when they started to pull up for the restart. I knew I was going to have to try really, really hard on that restart. Thankfully, the 18 and some of those cars let us go and we were able to get in the mix.
Just had to fight really, really hard when everyone singled out and there weren’t many cars left at the end there and tried to get to Austin (Dillon). I knew he was going to need some allies there at the end of the race to go make the move on the 2. As it just kind of turned out, he didn’t really use his teammates for that move, but after everything kind of happened with the second pack catching us, I was really glad to be on his rear bumper to pretty much keep anyone from really creating that energy to pass the lead car. A lot of energy comes from that second car and when you have a teammate in that position to be that car absorbing those runs, you can really kind of control what is happening in front of you.”
LANDON CASSILL, NO. 77 VOYAGER: CRYPTO FOR ALL CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th
You just said this is awesome; how awesome is it?
“It really is awesome. We were sitting in a good spot with the rain delay; and even if they would have called it, we would have been happy with that finish. But we wanted to race for it and earn the top-five finish at the end. We did have to survive. There were a lot of fast cars that weren’t in contention at the end, but it’s pretty cool to see the checkered flag that close.”
How were you able to stay clear?
“I don’t know. I have done a lot of these races, so I feel like I know where to be to try and stay out of trouble. Sometimes in superspeedway racing, you just never know. I missed a couple of really big wrecks, made some good decisions, and the team did a good job of putting together the whole strategy today.”
NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 62 BEARD MOTORSPORTS / SOUTHPOINT CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
This was the little team that could and you found your way up into the top-five today. Tell us about that run.
“It was strong run for this team, considering that we have one employee at Beard Motorsports. To come home with a top-five, that is big for us. We were in a good spot running third there when the 2 was out front and the 3 was running second. It seemed like the 2 got loose and started down the racetrack and it was a hell of a save by Cindric, but that killed all our momentum. We were in a four-car breakaway; I thought I was going to set myself up to be in a pretty good spot and it just didn’t transpire. We had to regroup and come back for a fifth-place finish and we will take it.
Congrats to everybody at RCR and the ECR motor department. They help us out tremendously on this Beard Motorsports team and with one employee, this is a pretty big deal to go up against these organizations with 500-600 employees. So, for the goals that we have, the budget that we are on and the race team that we are; it’s pretty rewarding to be kicking yourself over a fifth-place finish in the Cup series. Very grateful for the opportunity and appreciate all the fan support and for NASCAR in letting us go to the end. I just want to say congratulations to Austin Dillon and his team. It was a lot of fun.”
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 17th
“We had a really fast FOCUSfactor Chevy today and were able to run up front, lead laps and thought we had a really good shot at winning. Unfortunately, we had damage from the caution that brought out the red flag and couldn’t make the repairs to meet minimum speed and finish the race. I hate we aren’t in the Playoffs this year, but proud of everyone on the 43 team and the hard work they’ve put in this year. We’ll keep building and use these next 10 weeks to continue to learn this car and try to get the FOCUSfactor Chevy in victory lane.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 137; Finished 24th
What do you do.. do you stop the race before it rains?
“We knew the rain was coming.. it was raining next door. It was just a matter of time. Why would we wait for that.. I don’t know. Maybe I’m a little biased because I was in the front, but there’s nothing you can do. Sometimes you are running 200 mph and you’re able to turn left. And then you see a few drops hard and you’re just spinning.”
Do you think they should have called cars to pit road earlier?
“I feel like they have a lot of technology to know that the rain is very, very close. I don’t think it’s hard to not put us in that position.”
JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 CELSIUS CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 137; Finished 28th
As you went off into turn one, was there just no grip?
“Yeah, it was raining for a good lap before we got into turn one my spotter said. Coming out of (turn) two the previous lap, it was raining and we just lost traction. It’s pretty unacceptable.
I thought we did a good job all day with our Celsius Chevrolet and we put ourselves in position. Brett Griffin (spotter) and Trent Owens (crew chief) called that; we stayed out hoping for rain earlier. It’s just tough. I fight for my ride, fight for my life, every day. We take these small opportunities and try to make something of it.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 103; Finished 33rd
“I’m proud of the effort by our No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet team and Trackhouse Racing. It’s been an incredible 26 weeks. Now we can reset and be ready for 10 weeks of experiencing something I’ve never experienced with the Playoffs; my crew chief, my spotter and my team haven’t experienced.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 103; Finished 34th
“It just looked like they checked up in front of us. I don’t know exactly what happened in the front of the line. I hadn’t checked up and was just going to keep rolling straight through, but they came across me from the top.
It’s just unfortunate. We had just gotten our No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 a little bit better. I felt like we were in a good spot. I was happy with how the car was handling and it felt good to be in the mix.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1, was sidelined with engine issues during Stage One; Finished 37th.
We saw that issue where Kyle Larson pulled to the side and was talking about the engine and water temperatures. What were the issues here and did you have any indication that it was failing?
“I guess it was the timing belt maybe or something like that. I didn’t really have much of an indication. I’m sure they’ll dig through the data and see if it was happening earlier than when it really let go there.
Bummer. I’m sure we’ll drop a few spots in the points, so that will hurt for the playoffs. But I guess there’s one positive.. that I didn’t get caught up in a crash. We’re safe, good to go race next weekend and get our playoffs started.”
TEAM CHEVY RACE QUICK NOTES
Stage One:
· With inclement weather canceling qualifying; the lineup for the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway was determined by the rulebook, with Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott making an all-Chevrolet front row to lead the field to the green.
· From his front row starting spot, Elliott powered his No. 9 A SHOC Camaro ZL1 to the front of the pack to lead the opening lap of the 400-mile race.
· Early in the run, Larson pulled his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to the garage, with engine problems ending the day for the reigning NCS champion.
· Chevrolet led 34 of the 35 laps in Stage One, with Elliott leading 28 laps and Erik Jones leading 6 laps.
· Team Chevy Stage One: Top-10
2nd Chase Elliott, No. 9 A SHOC Camaro ZL1
7th Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Built.com Camaro ZL1
8th Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger / NOS Camaro ZL1
9th Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1
Stage Two:
· Team Chevy Stage Two: Top-10
7th Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1
9th Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger / NOS Camaro ZL1
10th Austin Dillon, No. 3 BREZTRI Camaro ZL1
Post-Race Notes:
· Entering the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway under the playoff cutline; Austin Dillon scored his first win of 2022 in the rain delayed Coke Zero Sugar 400.
· Dillon became the 15th new winner of 2022, securing a spot into the NASCAR Cup Series playoff field.
· This marks Dillon’s second NCS win at Daytona International Speedway; and his fourth career victory in 326 NASCAR Cup Series starts.
· In the 26-race NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Chevrolet has recorded a manufacturer-leading 15 wins, recorded by eight drivers from three different Chevrolet teams.
· Becoming the eighth Chevrolet driver to win and secure a playoff spot; Chevrolet occupies 50 percent of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoff field.
· The winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history; Chevrolet now has 829 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.
