NASCAR CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
OCTOBER 24, 2021
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE
2nd CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
4th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 ADVENTHEALTH CAMARO ZL1 1LE
6th WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE
10th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 GET BIOETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
2nd Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
3rd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
4th Kurt Busch (Chevrolet)
5th Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues this weekend at Martinsville Speedway for the Xfinity 500 on Sunday, October 31, at 2 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Race Winner
YOU HAVE GONE TO VICTORY LANE NINE TIMES NOW THIS YEAR, INCLUDING THREE IN A ROW. WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WINNING THIS ONE, 17 YEARS TO THE DAY AFTER A TRAGEDY IN THE NASCAR COMMUNITY FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS?
“Yes, I want to dedicate this win to Rick and Linda (Hendrick). I didn’t ever get to meet Ricky (Hendrick) or the other men and women who lost their lives that day, but I felt the importance of this race, no doubt. It’s crazy how it kind of all worked out there for me to win. I know they were all looking down and helping me out there with all the restarts and stuff after getting into the wall. Again, thank you to Rick Hendrick. I know this means a lot to you and I’m glad I could get it done. It’s cool to get another win and I don’t really know how that happened but, our HendrickCars.com Chevy was really fast. I thought we were like a third-place car, really. William (Byron) was really good. I hate to see that unfortunate luck there again for that team. They’ve been really, really strong. I’m glad we could capitalize and get another win. I hope we can go to Martinsville and get a clock.”
YOU HAD DAMAGE ON THE LEFT REAR AND THE RIGHT REAR AND A LITTLE BIT OF DAMAGE EVERYWHERE. YOU WERE MAD AT YOURSELF FOR A RESTART MIDWAY THROUGH THE RACE. WAS IT THAT DETERMINATION NOT TO LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN THAT GOT YOU THE WIN TODAY?
“Well, not really. I kind of forgot about that early. I felt like I did an okay job trying to hold those guys off as long as I could, on older tires. But yeah, and then I just got a little too impatient and the race was kind of closing down in the end. I got loose off of (Turn) 2 and got in the wall and thought for sure my chances of winning were done. But I had a couple of good restarts that worked out for me. The No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) got to the No. 9’s (Chase Elliott) inside at the flag stand and kind of choked that lane up and got me clear to the lead. Had to do some blocking there and Chase was really fast at the end. So, I’m glad I didn’t have to fight him too much.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 2nd
“Really proud of the effort. Our entire NAPA Chevrolet team did a great job today and I felt like we had something for Kyle (Larson) there. Just got the wall there off of (turn) two. It’s so hard to get up to him when you are running the fence like that. It’s just tough because every few feet you get closer, the harder it gets. It was a lot of fun. I’m really proud of the way we ran today. I feel like it was a really nice step in the right direction.”
“More importantly, just thinking about Hendrick Motorsports and the family that is Hendrick Motorsports. Obviously, this is a day that nobody is ever going to forget. Just thinking about Mr. Hendrick and all the families that were affected 17 years ago today. Just proud to be a part of their family and hope we can make them proud these next two weeks.”
HOW DID YOU KEEP YOUR CAR IN SUCH GOOD SHAPE?
“We had a really fast car first off. Obviously, the restarts didn’t go great there at the end ,but we were able to climb back in it. So just really proud of the effort. These are the kind of runs that you have to have to compete for a championship. So, it’s a good time to be doing that.”
PLUS 34 GOING INTO MARTINSVILLE, WHAT DOES THAT ALLOW YOU TO DO CHASE?
“I don’t know if it allows you to do much of anything now. As you saw today, I am not sure that any amount of points is safe. I think anyone in this Round can win next week. So, we are really going to have to be on it, but looking forward to the opportunity and excited for the challenge.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 ADVENTHEALTH CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 4th
WAS YOUR CAR AS STRONG AS IT LOOKED?
“We did everything right, we just didn’t combo it all together at the perfect time. Pit road was awesome. Matt McCall (crew chief) and all my guys, sticking together this late in the year with the team switching over. Just thank you to AdventHealth. I wanted to give them a good run and we were there. We did all of this right and it was so much fun racing right in the mix. It’s the little things that make the big difference. We freed it up on that last run; it got too tight. When you’re running with the big dogs, you have to do everything right.”
“Thanks to Chevrolet and Hendrick power. That was a big deal today. Thank you to my guys at Ganassi. We’ll keep chipping away.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 6th
TALK ABOUT THAT LAST STOP TO TIGHTEN UP THE LUG NUTS AND HOW CHAOTIC THE RESTARTS WERE AT THE END.
“Yeah, it was tough for us. On the first one, we got a good chunk of them and we got inside the top 10 and restarted ninth. Just didn’t really go anywhere on that one and it took us a while to kind of get back up there. But yeah, just a bummer we had that issue. I feel like we were executing a really good race and probably had the best car. We just had that issue and it took us out. We will rebound. This RaptorTough.com Chevrolet looked really good and we have had so much speed this year. It’s just a bummer to not get more wins, but I feel like our time is coming. We just have to keep at it.”
TALK ABOUT THE SPEED YOU GUYS HAVE HAD THE LAST FEW WEEKS.
“Yeah, I think we are there every week. We are putting ourselves in position in the final stage to win the race and that is really all you can do. It’s really hard to put yourself in that position, but I felt like we have done that multiple times. We just have to keep at it and see what happens.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BIOETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 10th
“We had a really fast No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE today at Kansas Speedway. We ended up with damage in Stage 1 and never recovered, so it really says a lot that we were able to finish in the top-10. It was hard-earned by everyone on the team, for sure. We were running solidly in the top-10 in Stage 1 when another car fenced both of us. We had a lot of right-side damage, but we fixed it the best we could. Most of the rest of the day was a struggle because the damage was affecting our handling. By the end of the race, our car was pretty decent. Late in the race I got into a Playoff contender and I hate it for everyone involved. It was side-drafting. It’s part of what we do, but I still hate that it happened. I tried to save it the first time, and the second time I just lost it. Overall, it was a good day for the Get Bioethanol team, and I am so proud of everyone at RCR and ECR for preparing fast Chevrolets.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 11th
“Kind of a frustrating day. We had a good Ally Chevy, but just fought being loose all day. We have two races left to get the finishes we want and that’s what we plan to do.”
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 PETTY’S GARAGE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 29th
“Tough day for the Petty’s Garage Chevy. Never quite had the balance where we wanted and then cut a tire down that put us way behind towards the end. Hopefully we can rebound at Martinsville.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and 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.
