Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.
1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin outgunned Martin Truex, Jr. on an overtime restart and held on to win the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond, earning his second win of the season.
“As a native of Virginia,” Hamlin said, “it’s always heartwarming to race in my home state. Mostly because there’s less people booing me here than in the other states. Granted, it’s still a lot, but still less.”
2. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex dominated the latter part of the Toyota Owners 400, but a late caution flag allowed Denny Hamlin to take the lead on an overtime restart. Truex settled for second and showed his frustration by banging doors with Kyle Larson in the closing laps.
“To use an Easter analogy,” Truex said, “I’m hopping mad. But everyone knows I’m not a hothead, so the chances of this ‘Joe Gibbs Racing driver going ‘JGR’ on another driver are pretty slim. To be clear, the ‘JGR’ in that context means ‘Joey Gase Rage.'”
3. William Byron: Byron finished seventh at Richmond, recording his fourth top-10 result of the year.
“It’s not often that NASCAR races on Easter Sunday,” Byron said. “There was a time when if you would have suggested that NASCAR should race on Easter, you would have been crucified.”
4. Christopher Bell: Bell finished sixth at Richmond.
“There are so many products sponsoring NASCAR cars,” Bell said. “There’s bourbon, beer, pharmaceuticals, and even Sunny D. Mix them all together, and you get a cocktail known as the ‘Tim Richmond.”
5. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished fifth at Richmond as Hendrick Motorsports placed three cars in the top 10.
“I’m still looking for my first win since Talladega in October of 2022,” Elliott said. “While the good folks down at the Dawsonville Pool Room have plenty to say ‘Cheers’ about, I’d like to give them something to cheer about.”
6. Ty Gibbs: Gibbs finished 16th in the Toyota Owners 400, only his second finish outside the top 10 this season.
“After last week’s snorefest at COTA,” Gibbs said, “it was good to give fans an exciting race. I’ve learned to never underestimate NASCAR. They even found a way to make road course racing boring. You could call the race at COTA the ‘Brickyard 400 Of Road Course Races.'”
7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney struggled for much of the night at Richmond on his way to a 19th-place finish.
“We really didn’t bring our ‘A’ game to Richmond,'” Blaney said. “We brought a lot of other letters, like ‘S,’ ‘O,’ ‘B,’ ‘M,’ and ‘F,’ but definitely not ‘A.'”
8. Ross Chastain: Chastain finished 15th at Richmond.
“Because of moisture on pit lane,” Chastain said, “we had to have what is known as ‘uncompetitive pit stops’ early in the race. Apparently, that’s where Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. got the idea to make it an uncompetitive race until the very end.”
9. Kyle Larson: Larson was strong all night at Richmond, starting on the pole, winning Stage 1, and leading 144 laps on his way to a third in the Toyota Owners 400.
“I did everything but close the deal,” Larson said. “I had a lot of deals ‘closed’ back in the spring of 2020.”
10. Tyler Reddick: Reddick finished 10th at Richmond, posting his fourth top 10 of the year.
“My No. 45 Toyota was primarily sponsored by SiriusXM,” Reddick said. “A quick glance of a NASCAR crowd evokes a similar phrase—-‘Serious XL.'”
