NASCAR CUP SERIES
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
ADVENTHEALTH 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT
MAY 7, 2023
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
3rd William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1
5th Ross Chastain, No. 1 AdventHealth Camaro ZL1
7th Chase Elliott, No. 9 UniFirst Camaro ZL1
10th Austin Dillon, No. 3 BetMGM Camaro ZL1
TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
- Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
- Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
- William Byron (Chevrolet)
- Bubba Wallace (Toyota)
- Ross Chastain (Chevrolet)
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Darlington Raceway with the Goodyear 400 on Sunday, May 14, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
Ross Chastain, No. 1 AdventHealth Camaro ZL1
Finished: 5th
There’s a lot of physical racing out there today, Ross. Like, I mean, there’s lots of contact through the field. What do you attribute that to?
“I think everybody is evolving the new car. It’s not so new and we’ve got a good handle on it. There’s times where we’re running 20th-ish and I can’t get by people. Then a couple of restarts and some good adjustments by Phil Surgen and the boys and girls at Trackhouse, we’re back up there fighting for a top-five. Yeah, it’s some of the best drivers in the world and totally equal cars, and putting on heck of good racing.”
Knowing you guys are coming back here for the Playoffs, seeing how aggressive everything was today, do you expect that same level of intensity when you’re back here.
“The main thing I’ll focus on is getting our car faster for us and our Advent Health Chevy. It’s still lacking a bit of grip. If we can get the balance good, I feel like we can go. That last run we about nailed it the best we were all day. So, proud of the boys and girls at Trackhouse to do that because that was the money stop and money adjustment. We just need more raw speed and grip. I’m just sliding the front, or the back, too much. Aside from everything else, that’s what I’ll focus on between now and the fall.”
Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
Finished: 2nd
“I was really loose. I was trying to do what I could to manage it. I was really loose at that end and, yeah, (Denny Hamlin) was just a little better than me at the end. I haven’t seen a replay either, but obviously, he was side-drafting really aggressively like he would but he was touching me, it felt like. It just had me out of control, so I wish we could see what we could do.”
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident at the conclusion of Stage Two.
Finished: 35th
Kyle, what happened out there?
“Just tried to get below the No. 6 (Brad Keselowski) off of (turn) two. I wasn’t quite clear, got clipped and spun out. I feel bad for my guys. We’ve been fighting hard all day long to get ourselves up there and get further up with track position. We finally got it and then all of the cautions kind of came to kind of throw off strategy. We weren’t able to get stage points and then ruined our race there with getting clipped.
Just bad luck situations. A lot of guys up there on older tires – you’re trying to get by them, make the most of your stage and then stuff like this keeps happening.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 UniFirst Camaro ZL1
Finished: 7th
“I feel fine. We didn’t really show it with the results, but I was excited about how the day went for our No. 9 UniFirst Chevy team. We had a couple of high spots. Got the lead there when we were racing with Kyle (Larson). That’s better than normal for me, so we’ll just try to build on that and get better.
We fired off tight there a couple of times and then lost the track position. I thought we were pretty decent again that last run. Ryan (Blaney) and I got together off (turn) four and I hit him pretty good with my right-front, and I don’t think that was doing me any favors.”
AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1
Finished: 14th
“I felt like we fought hard all day. We got the car closer overall, but we were still kind of fighting back and forth between loose and tight. The No. 16 Action Industries crew did a good job on strategy, making adjustments, and our pitstops were really good. We were able to get some stage points as well. Today was definitely something we can build on.”
William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1
Finished: 3rd
“It was an amazing effort by our No. 24 Liberty University Chevy team. We all but wrecked twice, went three laps down and came back to finish third – it’s just incredible. It’s just a testament to the strength of this race team. The tail wasn’t exactly right there at the end. It was knocked over and the car was really loose towards the end of any longer run. A tough situation, but really happy with that effort. Just a great job by this whole Liberty University Chevy team. They gave us a really hard fight, so good to come home third.”
Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1
Finished: 18th
“We had an up and down day today. We fired off a little tight, but I was pretty optimistic about our No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1. Unfortunately, some pit road issues and a flat tire were indicative of our day. My crew chief, Trent (Owens), had a great strategy to get us back on the lead lap, but I felt like the flat tire did some damage early on to the splitter, so we just struggled the rest of the race. We will take a top 20 and head to Darlington next week where we had a great run last year.”
Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1
Finished: 21st
“It was an okay day for the No. 43 Allegiant Chevy team. Just kind of up and down and kind of a lot of chaos. Got wrecked and ended up just finishing farther back than we wanted. We’ll take it, learn from it, and hopefully be better for next week.”
TEAM CHEVY RACE HIGHLIGHTS:
Stage One
· Team Chevy drivers took the top-three starting positions in today’s NASCAR Cup Series AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, led by William Byron and the No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 team from the pole position.
· Outside front-row starter Kyle Larson drove his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to the lead on lap five, but was spun while making the pass on the frontstretch, bringing out the first caution of the race. Making no contact with the wall, Larson was able to come down pit road for four tires and fuel, ultimately restarting at the tail end of the field.
· Running steady in the top-10, Byron started the green-flag pit cycle on lap 36 with crew chief Rudy Fugle calling Byron down pit road for four tires, fuel and a round of chassis and air pressure adjustments. Byron was hit with a speeding penalty on pit road entry, forcing the No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 team to return to pit road for a pass-through.
· The green-white checkered flew on lap 80 marking the end of Stage One. Daniel Suarez led Team Chevy at the end of the stage in the fifth position.
· After restarting in 36th after an early-race accident, Larson drove his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 back up to a 10th-place finish in Stage One.
· Team Chevy Stage One: Top-10
5th Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1
9th Ross Chastain, No. 1 AdventHealth Camaro ZL1
10th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1.
Stage Two
· Driving back up through the field to a top-10 finish in Stage One, crew chief Cliff Daniels brought Larson down pit road for four tires and fuel. The No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 pit crew powered off a fast stop with the team gaining two spots in the race off pit road.
· The No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 substitute driver Josh Berry entered the top-10 early in Stage Two. Running steady in the top-10, a multi-car accident took place, involving Team Chevy’s Berry and Erik Jones. Both teams were able to make repairs to their Camaro ZL1’s to return to competition.
· Nearing the end of Stage Two, a caution flew on lap 159 to setup a three-lap dash to the end of the stage. With pit strategy coming into play, a handful of drivers came down pit road, while others opted to stay out for track position.
· Battling back from an early pit road penalty, crew chief Randall Burnett called Kyle Busch down pit road for a four-tire stop, putting the No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1 in the 15th-position for the restart.
· In the three-lap race to the end of Stage Two, Busch was turned down the backstretch, sustaining damage from contact with the inside wall that ultimately ended the team’s day. The caution – the seventh of the day – brought the race to the conclusion of Stage Two.
· The top-nine drivers who opted not to pit at the earlier caution were able to gain valuable stage points from track position gained through pit strategy, including LEGACY MOTOR CLUB teammates Noah Gragson (third) and Erik Jones (fourth), and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon (seventh).
· Team Chevy Stage Two: Top-10
3rd Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Camaro ZL1
4th Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1
7th Austin Dillon, No. 3 BetMGM Camaro ZL1
9th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
Final Stage / Post-Race Notes
· Kyle Larson led Team Chevy to the checkered flag, driving his No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1 to a runner-up finish.
· Five drivers from three different Chevrolet teams were represented in the top-10 of the finishing running order including Hendrick Motorsports’ Larson (second), William Byron (third) and Chase Elliott (seventh); Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain (fifth); and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon (10th).
· In 12 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races complete, Chevrolet continues to lead the series in wins (seven), top-fives (28) and top-10s (51).
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.
