NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
ROUND OF 16: RACE ONE
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT
SEPTEMBER 8, 2024
Suarez Leads Chevrolet with Runner-Up Finish in 2024 Playoff Opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Four Team Chevy Playoff Contenders Earn Top-10 Finishes
- Gearing up for a campaign for his second career NASCAR Cup Series championship, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson laid down a qualifying lap that earned the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1 team a seventh-place starting position for the first race of the Round of 16.
- With just five laps complete, Larson showed early speed in his Hendrick Motorsports-prepared Chevrolet; quickly moving up into third and settling into position for much of the opening stage. While looking to capitalize on a handful of opportunities to take the lead, Larson unexpectedly took a hard hit midway through the corner; suffering damage that would end the day early for the No. 5 team.
- The first caution of the day also ultimately brought the race to the end of Stage One. Team Chevy’s playoff contender Alex Bowman led the Bowtie brand to the end of the stage – collecting a third-place finish in the stage. Joining Bowman in the top-10 included Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott and William Byron in the fifth through eighth positions, respectively.
- With a third-place finish in Stage One, crew chief Blake Harris called Bowman to pit road for four tires and fuel. With a quick stop by the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet pit crew, Bowman won the race off pit road to lead the field to the green flag for the start of Stage Two.
- The 100-lap stage saw much of the field settle into a two-by-two formation, with Team Chevy’s other remaining playoff contenders occupying top-10 running positions. The lead pack began to shuffle positions once the stage hit 10-laps-go. Bowman went on to lead the Bowtie brand with yet another third-place result in Stage Two – leading Suarez (fourth), Byron (fifth), Stenhouse Jr. (sixth), Chastain (seventh) and Elliott (eighth).
- The beginning laps of the final stage saw a handful of Team Chevy drivers looking to pull of a playoff upset, Kyle Busch and Chastain making an appearance in the top-five as the race returned to caution conditions with 53 laps to go. Sitting in the second position, crew chief Randall Burnett opted to gamble and capitalize on track position – giving Busch a front-row starting position for the green-flag with 49 laps to go.
- As intensity ramped up, a strong contingency of Camaro ZL1’s occupied much of the lead pack, with Team Chevy drivers occupying six of the top-eight running positions as the race hit 25-laps to go.
- Enduring a green-white-checkered finish, the track’s defending winner, Daniel Suarez, posted his third-straight podium result at Atlanta Motor Speedway – leading Chevrolet with a runner-up finish in his No. 99 Quaker State Camaro ZL1.
- Four of Team Chevy’s playoff contenders drove their Camaro ZL1’s to top-10 results in the Round of 16 opening race, with Suarez leading Alex Bowman in fifth; Chase Elliott in eighth; and William Byron in ninth.
- Despite an unfortunate early ending to his race, Larson’s playoff points cushion keeps the 32-year-old Elk Grove, California, native above the playoff bubble, with the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1 team heading to Watkins Glen in the 10th position and 15-points above the cutline.
TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10:
POS. DRIVER
2nd Daniel Suarez
5th Alex Bowman
7th Kyle Busch
8th Chase Elliott
9th William Byron
WITH 27 NASCAR CUP SERIES RACES COMPLETE:
Wins: 11
Poles: 7
Top-five finishes: 49
Top-10 finishes: 105
UP NEXT: The second race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 16 gets underway at Watkins Glen International with the Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, September 15, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
Kyle Larson, No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage One.
Finished: 37th
Larson on the accident that ended the day early for the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1 team:
“I’m OK. Thankfully everything held up well inside the car. That was a huge hit. I’m not really sure what caused it. I was actually sort of tight and loaded in the corner. And then I was pretty far around the corner and it just stepped out. I don’t know.. it all just happened really fast.”
Were you trying to save the car at that point.. was it loading weird to you on that lap?
“No, I mean I was already loaded in the corner. It just got loose, and when you’re spinning or getting ready to spin, you have to turn right. I just overcorrected, I guess. It’s just a bummer. We’ll see how everything kind of shakes out after today; go onto Watkins Glen and try to have a good day.”
Did you have any warning? Were you fighting the loose conditions the whole time?
“No, not at all. Never.. not once. If anything, I was getting tighter and tighter. So yeah, it just caught me way off guard. I was never once loose, even in that corner. And then, it just started stepping out. I corrected it and overcorrected it, I guess.”
How are you feeling right now?
“I feel fine. Thankfully, everything held up great in the car, so thank you to Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR for the safety of these cars.”
Larson on the next two races in the Round of 16 around the cutline bubble:
“Yeah, we’ll see how the rest of the race plays out and where the points shake out. I have no idea where I sit currently, but I’ll for sure be much closer.”
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Global Industrial Camaro ZL1
Finished: 7th
Are you satisfied with the result today?
“No, we needed to win. We started pretty far off with the No. 8 Global Industrial Camaro, but we really worked on it. The guys made some good adjustments and got it to where it was driving really good. Definitely the second-half of the race and the final stage, I felt really positive about it. But then we had to go into fuel-save mode, so we weren’t really able to kind of stretch our legs there. Just played the way the cards were dealt and we came home with a top-10. Certainly felt like we had a shot to win. Felt as good, or better, than the No. 99 (Daniel Suarez), so I was just hopeful that we could keep that track position. Just lost a little bit too much there on that second-to-last restart.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA / Children’s Camaro ZL1
Finished: 8th
Is there just relief getting through today?
“Yeah, for sure. It’s nice to just have a solid day. We needed a good, solid day for this No. 9 NAPA / Children’s Chevy team. I’m looking forward to getting up to Watkins Glen and seeing how it goes.”
Overall, how did you feel about the race today?
“Yeah, it was fine. I think as time goes on, everybody gets better at it, and then it makes everybody just more the same and harder to be different. So, then we just end up clogging up the lanes and you just hope you have track position. Unfortunately, we had that most of the day.”
Going into next weekend, your thoughts on that. Watkins Glen is a pretty good track for you.
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to getting up there. Just going to have to qualify well. It’s going to be really, really tough to make any ground on that track. You better bring your A-game on Saturday because I’d say the race is probably going to be lost there.”
William Byron, No. 24 Relay Payments Camaro ZL1
Finished: 9th
This round is kind of ‘survive and advance’. Do you feel like you did what you needed to do today?
“We did. We had a little bit of handling issues in the first stage, but we overcame that. We got eighth-place stage points. The second stage was pretty good. We were up towards the front. And then in the final stage, we were up in the front the whole time. We were just trying to save fuel. I feel like we did a good job, for the most part. Just the second-to-last restart, I wasn’t quite sure who to push when they were three-wide in front of me, and I got trapped three-wide bottom and lost some spots.
All-in-all, coming back and finishing ninth is a good day for the No. 24 Relay Payments Chevrolet team.”
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
Finished: 5th
A 48-point day for the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team. Tell us about your race here at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and are you satisfied with today?
“Yeah, it was obviously a really good points day and a good day, overall, after the last month of so. Made a couple of moves there during that third-to-last run that just cost us a lot of track position, and we had to restart 13th there that second-to-last run. Obviously got a lot of it back, but couldn’t get it all back. I would have much rather been sitting in victory lane, but I just didn’t put myself in the best position at the end to be able to do that.
We had a great No. 48 Ally Chevy. It drove great all day. Little bummed, but definitely a good day for this team.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Quaker State Camaro ZL1
Finished: 2nd
Your last three races at Atlanta, you were second, first and now third. You had a shot at the end of this one. Are you satisfied with today?
“No, definitely not satisfied. I am happy with it, but not satisfied. I lost my pusher, my teammate. He was doing a great job, and I felt like we were going to have a great shot at it. Ross was doing an amazing job of pushing, and I don’t know if he got a flat tire or something, but once I lost him, I knew it was going to be tough. But, that is part of racing, right?
I can’t thank everyone enough; Trackhouse Racing, all the men and women. I have to give a shout out here to the race track and Quaker State for helping me design this amazing race car. It was nice to run strong today, but when you are that close and obviously we had a good shot, it’s never too fun.”
About Chevrolet
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