NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
XFINITY 500
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
OCTOBER 31, 2021
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
5th WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
7th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
8th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 GOODY’S COOL ORANGE CAMARO ZL1 1LE
13th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 COWBOY CHANNEL CAMARO ZL1 1LE
14th KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)
2nd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
3rd Brad Keselowski (Ford)
4th Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)
5th William Byron (Chevrolet)
The NASCAR Cup Series season concludes next weekend at Phoenix Raceway with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship on Sunday, November 7, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Race Winner
HIS WORD TO ME, WOW. WHY THE CONTACT WITH DENNY HAMLIN? WHAT HAPPENED THERE?
“I just got loose in. I got in too deep, knocked him out of the way and literally let him have the lead back. For anybody that wants to think I was trying to crash him, obviously wasn’t the case considering I literally gave up the lead at Martinsville to give it back to him.”
“He’s been on the other side of that. He’s crashed guys here for wins. I hate doing it. Obviously I don’t want to crash somebody. I just got in, got underneath him, spun him out.”
“Regardless, we get a free grandfather clock, which is pretty special. I struggled here for a long time. I was trying to get the flag, do a backwards victory lap. Mark Martin thinks that’s cool. Mark Martin is my hero. Obviously, like I said, hate we wrecked the 11. But how about that for Chevrolet, Ally, everybody on this 48 team. 48 car won here a bunch. Cool to do it again.”
TO CLARIFY, THERE WAS OR WAS NOT INTENT IN YOUR SECOND CONTACT WITH DENNY?
“No, I just got loose underneath. I’m not trying to drive underneath there and crash the guy. I got under him fair, under him clean. I just got sideways underneath him, spun him out. Hate to do that. Obviously unintentional. Part of short-track racing.”
AS YOU’RE CELEBRATING, HE PULLS UP TO YOU. WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO THAT?
“Man, I wasn’t going to get into it. This isn’t Bowman Gray Stadium. This is the Cup Series. As much as we could have made the highlight reel, we might climb the fence here because I want to see, the fence might come down. One of those deals.”
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 GOODY’S COOL ORANGE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 8th
“Really solid day at Martinsville Speedway for the No. 43 Goody’s Cool Orange Camaro ZL1 1LE. It was kind of an up-and-down day. There were times where I really didn’t think we were going to have the finish we did.”
“It kind of worked out there at the end. We had a set of tires we put on and the car kind of came back around to us, balance-wise, and we were able to come home with a top-10. Just good to keep the string going. We’ve had a good couple of runs here the last month. Hopefully, we can go to Phoenix (Raceway) next week and finish it out on another good note.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 COWBOY CHANNEL CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 13th
“We had a fast Cowboy Channel Chevrolet today at Martinsville Speedway. It was good to lead laps and run up front. We fought hard today, coming back from damage in Stage 2 and cutting multiple right-front tires. Our forward drive was ridiculously good. We started the race 14th and quickly drove into the top-10, ultimately finishing Stage 1 seventh. It was really challenging once we fell back in the running order because we were in the middle of the pack and around a lot of other cars and a lot of action. We worked as a team to get back on the lead lap, though, and survived some wild action out there to finish 12th. Good job by everyone on this RCR team.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 14th
TODAY, FOR YOU, WAS ALL ABOUT GETTING THE WIN. DESCRIBE YOUR RUN TODAY.
“Not good. Just bad execution on my part on pit road. I felt like our car was probably top-three, top-five, at times; and there were times it was tenth or worse. But my team did a good job working on it. I just sped (on pit road) too late in the race there again. From then on, just tried to not make anybody upset, knowing that I’m not going to get back up there for a win. Just try to keep everybody on my good side.”
WHEN YOU’RE COMING OFF FROM THREE WINS IN A ROW AND YOU HAVE A DAY LIKE TODAY, HOW DO YOU MENTALLY REGROUP FROM IT FOR PHOENIX?
“Honestly, the same way you treat the weeks after you win. You just kind of forget about it, move on and prepare for Phoenix. I’m excited about that. It’s cool that we get to race for our first championship. Hopefully, we can get it done.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 16th
YOU CAME IN WITH SOME POINTS THAT REALLY HELPED IN THE END. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE TODAY?
“Well, we’re moving on and that is all that matters. I had a really fast NAPA Chevy early and I made a couple of mistakes and kind of led us down the wrong path there for those last couple of runs, unfortunately. But the pace was certainly in the car.”
“Congrats to Alex (Bowman, race winner). It was a great day for Hendrick Motorsports; got two cars going to Phoenix and Alex getting the win here. Wish we could have won it. Hate to be so fast all day and it not work out, but obviously next week is what matters and that is where our heads are at. Excited to get out there and have another shot at it.”
HAVE YOU LEARNED A LOT THROUGH THIS YEAR IN BEING THE CHAMPION THAT MAY AID YOU NEXT WEEK?
“I think just the experience last year and kind of going through all that. Not so much with the on-track stuff, but kind of the prep throughout the week and all the obligations and whatnot that are involved in doing that is nice. We have been there and we know how far we can push ourselves and what we need to do to get prepared. Honestly, we are a simple group. We probably won’t change it a lot and will go out there and try and execute a really nice race. Hopefully better than the rest.”
“Super proud of this team. I know it hasn’t been super pretty at times, but for us to keep fighting through these Playoffs and to get to Phoenix. When you get there, it’s anybody’s game to go out there in that Final Four. So, really proud of this group to make it for a second consecutive year and being amongst those four cars is a big deal. We’re excited to have a shot. I think we can run with the best of them and we are looking forward to the opportunity.”
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.
