MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
MONSTER ENERGY ALL-STAR RACE
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES & QUOTES
MAY 19, 2018
TOP TEAM CHEVY FINISHERS:
POS. DRIVER
5th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 SUNENERGY1 CAMARO ZL1
6th JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1
7th KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1
8th AJ ALLMENDINGER NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1
10TH KASEY KAHNE, NO. 95 DUMONT JETS CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE FINISHERS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Kevin Harvick (Ford)
2nd Daniel Suarez (Toyota)
3rd Joey Logano (Ford)
4th Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
5TH Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 27 at 6:00 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 SUNENERGY 1 CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
NASCAR THREW A MIXED PACKAGE AT YOU. WHAT WAS YOUR TAKE AWAY? HOW FUN WAS THE RACING?
“Yeah, I actually had some fun really. It was different for sure, but it wasn’t all bad, I don’t guess. Obviously, there was way more potential to crash and what not, which is I guess good and bad depending upon who you are. If you are sitting at home and watching it was probably fun because we are all close. If we see this package more, I’m sure you will see some more torn up cars too. And I’m sure the teams will get better at building and preparing for it too, but proud of our night. To be able to come from last to fifth and I get the fan vote and end up coming home with a top five wasn’t all bad.”
RACING AT A 1.5-MILE, BUT THEN PEOPLE COMPARED IT TO A TALLADEGA OR DAYTONA BECAUSE THERE WAS A LITTLE BIT OF DRAFT WORK, RESTRICTOR PLATES, WHERE ON THE SPECTRUM WOULD YOU PUT IT?
“I would probably rank it closer to speedway racing. I mean, your car still had to drive good and if you were kind of back in the pack you could use the draft to make yourself look better. I think the tell-tale would have been who got out front and I think that was kind of why Kevin (Harvick) ended up working his way to the front and once he got there he was hard to pass because I think his pace was pretty good. I would have loved to have gotten up there and seen what our pace would have been like, but it was a fun race. I had fun. I hope everybody enjoyed it and we will go on down the road.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
THOUGHTS ON TONIGHT’S RACE:
“Yeah, I mean it’s funny how there ends up being a sweet spot. It doesn’t matter if it’s a restricted motor or not. The outside lane was really the place to be to keep the momentum up. Depending on the restart you had and the lane you are in and how to time a pass, I spent plenty of time kind of coming through the field. I really couldn’t get passed second or third. The times I tried to make a pass on the leader I would get pinned on the bottom and go to the back and have to start all over again.
“I had a good time out there though. There was a lot of hard racing. Obviously, I wish we had won, but we will come back next week to a normal program and go for it there.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th
TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE OVERALL. YOU WERE MAKING SOME IMPRESSIVE MOVES OUT THERE:
“Yeah, I was trying to. It was just tough. I felt like I could get to around second or third, just getting to the lead was tough. I never really got to lead. The times I would get to lead they would get a run on me and pass me right back. We just didn’t have the speed the Toyota’s had. I thought the Toyota’s were super-fast and then obviously the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) I mean he won, but the No. 78 was ridiculous. But, yeah it was a pretty fun race.”
OVERALL YOU LIKE THIS PACKAGE?
“I don’t want to race it every week, but every now and then is okay.”
ON THE CONTACT WITH THE NO. 22:
“I tried to be as much in the gas as I could and I got really tight. I tried to bail and I think he tried to leave me as much room as he could and he got into the wall, got mad at me and retaliated. It is what it is. Neither of us were going to win, but it’s whatever.”
SO, YOU THINK THE CONTACT WAS INTENTIONAL? MOST GUYS WOULD BE MAD, BUT YOU DON’T SEEM TO BE:
“Yeah, I mean I put myself in that spot. He maybe over exaggerated a little bit, but yeah, I put myself in that spot.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th
ON HIS RACE:
“Solid. The first stage was pretty awesome to go 18th to 4th in a couple of laps. The car handled really good. I just got a little bit tight there with the track getting going into the night. We were a little bit draggier down the straightaway so I had to keep the momentum up that second stage. I just got too close to the No. 78 and it snapped loose and got some body damage. The guys did a good job to fix it. Kind of salvaged the third session there. I thought if we could have got back up there we could have maybe had a chance to fight inside the top three or top four again. I cost us a little bit there, but I was getting after it. It was a fun night. Really competitive and proud of the guys.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in an on-track incident on lap 68 (Finished 21st)
ARE YOU OKAY AND WHAT HAPPENED?
“Yeah, just got loose. We had been really tight all night. I knocked the nose off of it early. We got slid and I wasn’t happy about it and instead of checking up, I didn’t lift. I probably should have lifted because it hurt me more than the guy that ran us like that. I’m just frustrated. I feel like these guys have taken advantage of me quite a bit this year and I’m over lifting for guys. I’m not going to go out of my way to slow myself down to help somebody else out. They would race me the same way. I’m just kind of over it, but as far the crash, I just got loose and it stepped out. I saved it, it stepped out again and I couldn’t save it. Really frustrating. I hate it for my guys, it’s my fault that we were in the situation further back than we should have been. I should have just been more patient and not knocked the nose off of it early.”
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