MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CLASH
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 19, 2017
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD
HOW MUCH FUN DID YOU HAVE?
“It was frustrating. We kind of struggled all day, a little bit. We couldn’t get the track position we needed. To come home third is solid, and not bad by any means. We will learn from it and hopefully give Greg (Ives, crew chief) and Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) some information for the Daytona 500. It is a day race. I am just happy to be a part of the Clash.
“It wasn’t a bad day by any means. It was all we could hope for. To come home third is really gold. Just thankful for the opportunity to drive this thing. Had a lot of fast Chevrolet’s out there for Hendrick these 12 races. Just very thankful for the opportunity.”
THAT IS WHAT DAYTONA IS ALL ABOUT, BEING THERE AT THE END?
“Yes it is. We were pretty far buried there for a while. I struggled to get guys to work with us. Chase (Elliott) pushed us up to there at the end, and we had a shot at it. That is all I can ask. I want to thank Nationwide and Mountain Dew for letting me do this. I had a lot of fun.”
YOU AND KYLE BUSCH WERE BANGING DOORS COMING TO THE FINISH LINE AND HE WAS A LITTLE UPSET AFTERWARD ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU DIDN’T WORK WITH HIM TO GET TO THE END. HOW DID YOU SEE IT THERE IN THE LAST 200 YARDS?
“It’s easy; hindsight is 20/20, right? It’s hard to see. I was on the top with all that stuff happened getting into Turn 1 and I didn’t know the No. 22 (Joey Logano) was out there by himself. So, he’s probably right. We probably could have caught the No. 22 and had a shot to win it, but at the same time, he didn’t work with me much all day, either. A lot of guys hung us out every chance they got. So, to come home third shows what a great race car Hendrick Motorsports brings to the track. I’ve got to thank all the guys for letting me do this; and Dale Earnhardt Jr. It means a lot to have driven this car for Team Hendrick I think for 11 or 12 races now, whatever it was. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve made a lot of memories. I hope to do it again someday.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S BIG MAC CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS RACE:
“It was okay. Drafting is hard when you get to the rear if there are not 30 cars or so on the track. Especially when the bottom lane got lined up because you just couldn’t get enough cars on the outside. It was pretty good. I kind of liked running in the day versus the night. I thought that was good. Handling wasn’t a big issue. I thought it was going to be a bigger concern because it is pretty warm right now. But it is early in the week and it seems like as the Trucks run, the Xfinity cars, it gets slicker by Sunday, but overall it was a pretty good time. We didn’t scratch our car, which is awesome to survive a plate race.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 12TH
WHAT HAPPENED THERE IN THE CLOSING LAPS?
“I got in the wreck, so it blew the right-front tire. It was a good run. I learned a lot and thought I drafted pretty well. Good start for our Dow Chevy, just a little more juice there and we will get ‘em. It’s hard out there because I didn’t have a teammate or anybody to work with. If you saw the top five were all teammates. It was three Gibbs cars and two Penske cars. I’m proud of being up there in that group.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BACK CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH
WHY DID THEY PULL YOU BEHIND THE WALL? IT DIDN’T LOOK LIKE THERE IS A LOT OF DAMAGE TO YOUR CAR:
“It is an odd way to be done I guess. But this race doesn’t matter for points.”
IS THIS JUST GOING TO TAKE A LITTLE BIT TO GET THE RULES EXPLAINED AS THE SEASON BEGINS?
“Yes, I think it will just take a few incidents like we had to remind everyone of the rules, or explain what the rules mean. It seems like the teams were a little confused after the driver’s meeting.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined in a single car crash on lap 48:
THIS IS LIKE SHADES OF LAST YEAR DURING SPEEDWEEKS WITH YOUR TEAMMATES HAVING SIMILAR ISSUES, IS THIS MORE OF A HENDRICK AERO ISSUE OR THE TRACK BEING SLICK?
“I don’t know. I guess last year there were a couple of issues there. It’s so bizarre because the car hasn’t been loose anywhere else. The first time I got loose I got into the NO. 41 (Kurt Busch) and crashed him and I feel terrible for that. And then that time, I didn’t think it was going to turn around. I was about half-throttle running along. I’m not sure if the car behind me got close and helped my cause, but it had been very loose off of Turn 4 from the moment I crashed Kurt, on. Maybe the track is changing. We certainly plan to race at night. And it’s weird because I’ve made a living out of a loose race car and to have it bite me this afternoon, and unfortunately take the No. 41 out, I’m disappointed in myself and our situation for that.”
WHAT HAPPENED IN THOSE TWO WRECKS?
“It’s bizarre because it drove really good everywhere else, then off of (Turn) 4 the first time I had a handling problem was when it broke free and I got into the No. 41 (Kurt Busch) and then after that it was really loose. After that caution and the last long stretch before I crashed again. Just off of Turn 4. The sun certainly sits on that edge of the track a little bit harder than anywhere else. We will take some notes and learn from those mistakes and apply that to the (Daytona) 500 car.”
IT APPEARS THAT DALE EARNHARDT, JR. AND CHASE ELLIOTT HAD SIMILAR ISSUES LAST YEAR IN THE DAYTONA 500. IF THEY ARE SIMILAR HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN BATTLING THIS ISSUE?
“We haven’t talked about it leading into this. I saw Chase (Elliott) really loose a couple of times off of (Turn) 4. We will definitely be aware of it now, but it’s not anything that we planned on having to fight while we were out here.”
HOW DID THINGS WORK GOING THROUGH THE NEW CONCUSSION PROTOCOL?
“I think because of the way my crash happened, maybe I did the protocol in there, I’m not really sure. They just evaluated me. It just seemed like a normal routine, so I don’t think I was in question to really go into the protocol. I will find out, I guess, at some point.”
DID YOU SEE ANYONE ELSE STRUGGLING WITH THE LOOSENESS OF THE CAR?
“I saw the No. 24 lose it off the bottom a couple of times, the No. 4 car was in the middle inside of me and got pretty loose. I guess as I’m working through the questions and answers now I’m thinking track position probably has a bigger role in it. When I lost track position when I first lost it and got into the No. 41 and then the No. 24 and No. 4 and myself all having troubles I saw around me we were all at the tail-end of the pack and there is just less air back there.”
WHAT IS CAUSING THAT?
“I would have to assume that it is relative to the height of the rear spoiler. When there is less air and the air is so turbulent back there, the spoiler is so small it is real easy to get the pressure off of it and then the back just rotates around.”
WHAT DO YOU GUYS NEED TO DO TO SOLVE THIS ISSUE?
“We can adjust rear shocks, rear ride height and try to get more pitch in the car in a sense to keep the spoiler up in the air longer.”
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