MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BANK OF AMERICA 500
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 8, 2017
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 SUNENERGY1 CHEVROLET SS- Finished 2nd
THIS IS YOUR SIXTH RUNNER-UP FINISH OF THE YEAR. WHAT WERE YOU MISSING TO BE ABLE TO CONTEND FOR THE WIN?
“We needed to be a little better I think in the middle stage and not lose so much track position. That was where Martin (Truex, Jr.) came on and got his track position and we lost ours and it was just hard to get all of it back there toward the end. It was a hard-fought day and really, from where we were in those middle stages, I was proud of the way we fought back and were able to get back to the front. It’s frustrating to run like this. We’re definitely tired of running second. But, if we keep running like we are, hopefully the opportunities will be there.”
IT WAS A HOT DAY. TALK ABOUT THE CONDITIONS INSIDE THE CAR TODAY
“I don’t know why it was so hot. It didn’t feel that bad. But that was one of the tougher races of the year, I feel like and here we are in October. So, I appreciate our SunEnergy1 group and Hendrick horsepower today was awesome and we’re working hard. Our pit stops are great again and we’re just trying to find the next little bit.”
YOU CAME INTO THIS RACE FOUR POINTS OUT OF MAKING THE NEXT ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS, BUT NOW YOU EXIT 16 POINTS TO THE GOOD GOING TO TALLADEGA. DOES IT GIVE YOU ANY EXTRA CONFIDENCE?
“Well, you need all you can get. We’ve just got to run like we were running today and if we keep doing that, it will figure itself out and that’s all you can ask for. So, we’re going to fight and go grab as much as we can and see what it’s got to offer.”
ARE YOU CONFIDANT GOING TO TALLADEGA?
“I am. I enjoy going to Talladega. I tried to create lift last time, so I’d like to keep all four on the ground and just keep it rolling there at the end and we’ll put up a good fight.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CHEVROLET SS – Finished 5th
YOU WERE FAST TODAY WHAT DID YOU NEED TO BE THE FIRST TO THE CHECKERED FLAG?
“Well, honestly I don’t know. We had such a good car at the beginning and you knew the race track was going to change as the substance wore off. We just were so good at the beginning in that sticky stuff. We were still good at the end, it is just man, it was all about getting in the right lane on the restarts. We had awesome pit stops, I’m so proud of those guys, they have turned their year around. We honestly, had the best pit crew on pit road today. But, it was good day, stage points in both stages, good top five finish. Long day, it was super humid and I think it’s really hard to explain to people how sticky it is out there today. It was super-hot.”
HOW DO YOU LOOK AT TALLADEGA AFTER A STRONG RUN TODAY?
“I view Talladega as going there and racing as hard as I can every single lap trying to get as many stage points as I can. We had a huge day today with where we were. I don’t know where we are in points, but a big day today with the amount of points that we were able to gather at the right times. I really feel like we will have to win a race in order to advance, unless we have three races like we had today. But, Talladega, yeah, I know that when the thing is over we will have had a shot to win and we will also have a good shot to get crashed. We will just have to wait and see how it plays out.”
YOU WERE MAKING SOME REALLY AGGRESSIVE MOVES HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES IT GIVE YOU TO MAKE THE AGGRESSIVE MOVES WHEN YOUR CAR WAS AS FAST AS IT WAS?
“Well, we just had a good car. Honestly, they don’t feel aggressive when your car is really good. The track is so fast and that sticky stuff has so much grip until it just has none. I actually wrecked on one of the restarts because I had good grip and then it just all of a sudden went away. So, I honestly wasn’t being overly aggressive, my car was just that good.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Finished 7th
ON HIS DAY:
“It was okay. We worked our way up to fourth and then had a little miscue on pit road and restarted 16th or something and got back up to seventh. Decent progress, the car was not easy to drive and not fun to drive, but my conditions were a lot better than the other guys and I could work my way back up through there.”
ON THE FINAL PIT STOP:
“… if we would have known there was another caution we would just go and run and then comeback in and then come back in and put all your lugnuts back on and you are fine. To go to the end, you get nervous and don’t want to get fined.”
WHEN YOU WERE STOPPED OUTSIDE OF THE BOX DID THE TIRE CHANGER NOT HIT ANY LUGS AT THAT POINT?
“I couldn’t tell you. I don’t know. I saw him stabbing at stuff, but I don’t know what he did there.”
ON HIS DAY TODAY:
“Yeah, humidity was up, but the track just had very little grip. When you had clean air you could run really fast, but as soon as you got to someone or around someone, man you are like three-quarters of a second slower and out of control. Traffic and passing was really tough and unfortunately, we had to come through the traffic a couple of times.”
HOW KEY WAS IT GETTING BONUS POINTS TODAY SINCE THE BUBBLE TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ROUND IS SO TIGHT:
“It’s one race of this new round, teams have been running very competitive around one another, so I don’t see anybody really getting away in points. Maybe the No. 78 or the No. 18, but the No. 18 had trouble today, so we will just keep digging. We can work on all the theories we want and then we got to Talladega next week.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 ROAD TO RACE DAY CHEVROLET SS – Finished 9th
ON A SOLID TOP 10 RUN FOR THEIR TEAM AT CHARLOTTE:
“Yeah, we had to work really hard. The guys did a really nice job and had a pretty good car the first half of the run and then I would get pretty loose. A little rough riding, but I was happy with a lot of things today. We had to come from the back, a lap down when that right-rear went flat when we were running well. So, it was a good fight. Ended up top 10. We will keep working on it.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Finished 10th
HOW NERVE-WRACKING WAS THAT OVERTIME FINISH KNOWING YOU HAD DAMAGE TO YOUR CAR?
“The damage made me a little nervous. But Daniel (Suarez) got a good restart behind me and got to my outside and was on my door pretty hard. I got loose and lost a bunch of ground. I felt like I had a car to win. I made a mistake on pit road early. We rebounded from that. And then we had a costly mistake late and somewhat rebounded; but then those last two restarts didn’t go my way.”
HOW FRUSTRATING WAS IT THAT YOU COULDN’T COME AWAY WITH THE WIN?
“Yeah, I felt like we’ve been better than the No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr., race winner) the past two weeks. Last week was probably the first time in a long time he hasn’t been the most dominant. And then, he definitely wasn’t dominant today. I feel like the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) and the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and I were better than he was. Their team has executed really good.”
ON HOW HIS PIT CREW PERFORMED
“They’ll be fine. They’ve been one of the best pit crews all year. Like I said, I made a mistake on pit road early and then it is what it is. We were able to fight hard all day long, which is good.”
HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS RACE NO. 1 IN THE ROUND OF 12 FOR YOU?
“a lot of fight, it was a disappointing finish, but I made a mistake early on pit road, totally missed my pit stall and then we were able to cruise to the front pretty easy and then got to lead a little bit and had the mistake there late. Disappointing, but we fought hard.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – Finished 21st
“My GEICO Chevrolet team worked hard this weekend in Charlotte. We didn’t unload how we needed to on Friday, and then we didn’t get any practice laps in yesterday because of the rain. So, we had to make adjustments on the first few pit stops to get what I needed balance-wise. I felt pretty good late in the race, but I just needed track position. Charlotte is a tricky track and it can be hard to pick up spots. We were really making progress, though. I was 15th when I had to pit for a flat tire with 13 laps to go. It was an unfortunate end to the day. I wish we could have gotten the top-15 finish, but that was out of our control. We have good notes to take home and be ready for next year.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Finished 12th
WERE YOU HAPPY ABOUT THE EFFORT YOUR TEAM PUT IN TODAY?
“The effort, yeah, I don’t know that I have worked any harder at any race this year, but looking at all these drivers, everybody is worn out. What they did to the race track and had the race track kind of all screwed up, got everybody worn out. We didn’t know where to run and how to run you were just in there chasing the race car around the corner, a lot of work. So, the effort was hard. Considering how little practice we got and how bad the car was at some points in the race, pretty happy with 12th to be honest with you. I thought we were going to run… I mean we ran 18th – 20th all day.”
ON HIS LAST RACE AT CHARLOTTE:
“Yeah, I wish we could have done a little better obviously. We worked so hard all day. I know all the drivers are wore out. It was just real humid, but whatever they did to the track had it out of freaking control. You didn’t know whether you were going to be tight or loose every corner. You didn’t know where to run and where not to run. It was just crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it. Probably the hardest I’ve worked inside a car in a long time and I bet that goes for the rest of the field too. Hopefully, the rest of the races are a little bit easier.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – Involved in a multi-car accident on lap 43
WHAT HAPPENED THERE TO PUT YOU OUT OF THE RACE SO EARLY?
“For sure I didn’t see him. I know I got tight underneath him and I washed up, but I checked-up and when you check-up sometimes you wash up even more, but never the less, I don’t know if he turned me on purpose or not he probably had a right to, but it was early in the race and we had a good car. The Caterpillar Chevrolet was coming back through, we lost three spots on the pit stop and that was rough, but we started passing some cars and just either my mistake or his mistake, both of us going for the same piece of real estate off Turn 2.”
ARE YOU OKAY AND HOW DID THAT GET STARTED?
“I’m not sure how it started. I know I got tight underneath Clint (Bowyer) and I’m not sure if he hit me and turned me on purpose or just hit me and ran out of room. I’m not sure if I stuck him in the fence before that, but we just kind of ran out of race track. It wasn’t intentional on my part. I’m not sure if it was on his, but we had a decent day going for the Caterpillar Chevrolet and not the end that we wanted.”
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