MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE
TEAM CHEVY ‘OPEN’ POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 18, 2019
TEAM CHEVY ‘OPEN’ POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICK AUTOGUARD CAMARO ZL1 – Stage 1 Winner; Advances to the All-Star Race
“I got a little tight off of (Turn) 4 and didn’t realize how much room was there. And then I actually got the left-sides on the grass a little bit coming to the line. But, it was just amazing. It feels awesome to be in the All-Star Race. It’s a huge accomplishment for myself. Chad (Knaus, crew chief) has been here a bunch of times. But, it feels good.”
THERE’S A LITTLE BIT OF DAMAGE TO THAT RIGHT FRONT
“Yeah, a little bit. We’ll get it fixed up and hopefully make it a little bit faster. We’ll be fine under the lights.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CAMARO ZL1 – Stage 2 Winner; Advances to the All-Star Race
THIS HAS GOT TO FEEL AS GOOD AS WINNING A MILLION DOLLARS DOESN’T IT?
“It is. It showed that I guess I still got it. It’s skewed a little bit, but whatever. It’s been hard, been really hard. I was trying to hold them back and telling yourself you can’t do it anymore is tough. To give up and whatnot. I gave up the first Stage win and I didn’t say anything on the radio. But my parents and everyone that has always helped me always said, when I am pissed off, I drive better. So, I did everything I could. I told myself to quit, and don’t even try again for the second Stage. My mental game is really shot right now, but damn it feels good to win something. I have failed at a lot of things in life recently, but I am working to make those things better. We will see what we can get tonight, and I ain’t going to say we ain’t got a shot in hell, but we might be the most (inaudible) out there.”
YOU KNEW YOU HAD TO GO FOR IT DIDN’T YOU?
“I think with (Alex) Bowman taking the bottom there, it gave me a shot. I thank (Daniel) Suarez for giving me the shove and I knew that I couldn’t run the middle in three and four, and he could. He was on new tires. I had to do everything I could and I remember watching truck races specifically thinking when Kyle and Kyle got in behind me in 2014 and how hard they were side drafting. I knew I had to do the same thing without wrecking. I almost gave it back to him coming off four so it was just good racing there and you know Daniel and I are really close, so I hope there are no hard feelings. We know what is on the line and I would have expected the same thing. We are putting our lives on the line, and hell, that is what happens.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1 – Final Stage Winner; Advances to the All-Star Race
YOU’RE GOING TO BE BACK IN TRAFFIC WHEN THE ALL-STAR STARTS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN MOST IN THIS RACE?
“I felt like our Advent Health Chevy drove pretty good in traffic compared to other people’s cars. You had to be patient. I knew I had a really good car so I didn’t want to put myself in a bad spot and get damaged like a lot of those guys did at the end of those segments. It was kind of a cluster of a race. I didn’t feel like we did a really good job as a team. I screwed-up on that restart at the end of the first one and allowed Bubba (Wallace) to get to my inside. And we’ve just got to clean some things up to have a shot here later, or the rest of the year. Hopefully we can give ourselves a good shot here and clean up our act a little bit in the next hour or so.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Fan Vote Winner; Advances to the All-Star Race
I KNOW YOU WANTED TO RACE YOUR WAY IN. HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
“I’m pretty bummed giving one away on a restart like that. It’s pretty embarrassing, especially losing it to someone that wasn’t nearly as good as we were. It was just a really bad restart on my part. We’ll keep digging. Obviously, our car is really fast and we will have a good shot at it in the All-Star Race.”
OBVIOUSLY, THE FANS WANTED TO SEE YOU RACE IN THE ALL-STAR RACE.
“Yeah, for sure. You want to race your way in and we were able to do that last year. We had a car that was very capable of doing that this year, but the restarts didn’t go our way. It is what it is. I’m just embarrassed giving one away like that. I’ll be fine and we will go put on a show in the All-Star Race.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
