NASCAR CUP SERIES
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
FIREKEEPERS CASINO 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT
AUGUST 7, 2023
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
5th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
6th Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1
7th Ross Chastain, No. 1 Jockey Camaro ZL1
10th Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1
TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
- Chris Buescher (Ford)
- Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)
- Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
- Brad Keselowski (Ford)
- Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course with the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on Sunday, August 13, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 7th
“It was a grind all weekend. We started on the front row but didn’t have the balance or the grip level we needed when we got back in traffic. I felt like we were so fast and I just couldn’t get back up there. We just didn’t have the car to do it. The changes that we were able to make were small – air pressures and stuff – but helped the car today.
Thank you to everyone at Trackhouse Racing and Chevrolet to be able to come back on a green race track and make the car better. It was a good run for the No. 1 Jockey Chevy team.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 5th
Top-Five finish for the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team. Is that where this car was or did you think you had some more?
“I felt like we were a little bit better, and then after that wreck off of (turn) two, the No. 14 (Chase Briscoe) and I hit pretty decently, and I just felt like we were a little slower after that. I think the handling was still similar, but just a little bit slower overall. We took what we could get out of the day. Happy with the pit strategy there at the end to get some track position and come away with a top-five for the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy. We’ll take it.”
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 KWIK TRIP / KWIK STAR CAMARO ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage One.
Finished: 37th
“I put myself in a bad spot. I really hate that I did that. I wish the results were better for the day for our entire RCR team. They work so hard and do so much for me to put myself in a bad spot like that and get crashed. Hate it for Kwik Trip and everybody involved, it was a really short day.”
Did your car just snap on you as you got beside him?
“We touched a little bit and that’s when you lose all the air and you spin out.”
You put yourself in a bad position? Did you feel like (Ryan) Blaney did anything wrong there?
“They all run hard. They all want to race to crash. I tried to make a move and in the old days, guys that you were racing would let you go and have that spot and work for it later. But in this day in age, it’s completely different. So I got a guy that ran on my outside and took the air off.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage One.
Finished: 36th
That was a hard hit there. Are you feeling alright?
“Yeah, I feel good. I hate that it happened. It was really early in the day to have a tire blow like that. It was really weird. It’s a bummer, but not surprised.”
Was there no warning that the tire was going?
“No, not at all. Obviously we stayed out, but no I didn’t even feel like I was being hard on it. Unfortunately not.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage Two.
Finished: 35th
“I just got loose trying to get stage points there. We were dicing it up. We didn’t have the best restart, so we were gaining spots back, but just tried too hard. We’ll just regroup and try to get a good couple of weeks before the playoffs. Just made a mistake – was just trying hard and got loose.”
JOSH BERRY, NO. 42 SUNSEEKER RESORTS CAMARO ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage Two.
Finished: 34th
Any warning that the car was coming around?
“No, I had no idea. Just wild restarts here and just trying to learn as much as I can. I just got loose there and backed it into the wall. Just hate it that we didn’t get to run all the laps today because that was the main goal.
Was it traffic, aero-effects or just no warning?
“I’ll have to go back and watch it. Obviously it’s a lot to learn here with everything going on back there. I’ll just go back and look, learn and see what I can do better.”
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 ALLEGIANT CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 10th
“It was a good day for the No. 43 Allegiant Chevy team. I thought our Chevy was a top-five car. We just got shuffled around on some restarts. When the No. 48 (Alex Bowman) got wrecked there, we had to come in and change tires; got shuffled to the back and we had that long green-flag run there at the end. To drive from the back up to 10th, it’s good. Obviously we wish it was better, but we had good speed and a good car all race yesterday and today. The balance was just a little tighter today and kind of held us back. We’ll see moving forward. We’re getting faster, we just need to capitalize on these days and go try to make the most of them to get the finishes that we can. Happy with the way we’re going.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 6th
“Proud of my No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevy team. This is exactly what we needed after a couple of rough weeks. The team did an amazing job with execution and the car was fast. It wasn’t easy – we had to work for this one. Two days ago in practice, I knew our car had the speed, but we were just very off on balance. Once we found the balance, the car was pretty fast so I’m happy with that. I feel like we still have maybe one more step to go to be able to win races, but it was definitely a race that we needed, especially heading into two road course races. Now we have a little momentum on our side and I’m optimistic for the final three races of the regular season.”
STAGE ONE:
· Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain led the NASCAR Cup Series to the green flag in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway – his ninth top-10 start of the season and his first career top-10 qualifying effort in NASCAR’s premier series at the two-mile oval. Chastain drove his No. 1 Jockey Camaro ZL1 to the top position in the opening lap – leading the race’s first 16 laps.
· Two of Team Chevy’s former champions faced trouble in Stage One with Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott making an early exit due to damage sustained in accidents in the race’s first 35 laps.
· Under caution with 11 laps to go in the stage, crew chief Cliff Daniels opted for track position – calling for Larson to stay out when pit road opened. With varying pit strategies among the leaders, Larson lined up in the seventh position for the final six laps of Stage One.
· Larson went on to lead Team Chevy to the green-white checkered flag – collecting top-five points at the conclusion of Stage One. The No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team led the manufacturer to four of the top-10 positions in Stage One:
5th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
6th Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1
7th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally x Detroit Pistons Camaro ZL1
9th Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1
STAGE TWO:
· During the Stage break, Larson visited pit road for four tires and fuel. With much of the field staying out, Larson was forced to start in the 21st position for the start of Stage Two.
· Coming to the end of Stage One, William Byron made contact with the wall while in a three-way battle for top-10 stage points. Crew chief Rudy Fugle called Byron down pit road to assess the damage on the No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1. Unable to make repairs by the end of the DVP clock, Byron was forced to make an early departure from the race for a 35th-place finish.
· Shortly after the start of Stage Two, the fourth caution of the day flew involving Team Chevy’s Josh Berry following a spin and contact with the wall. With too much damage to continue, the No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Camaro ZL1 team ended the race in the 34th position.
· LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’s Erik Jones was in a battle for the lead when the caution flew. Taking the green flag on lap 56, Jones settled his No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1 into the third position on the restart.
· A trio of Camaro ZL1’s were running in the top-five (Alex Bowman – 2nd, Kyle Larson – 3rd and Erik Jones – 5th) when the caution flew for precipitation, ultimately bring the race to red flag conditions for approximately 85 minutes before being postponed until Monday.
· Restarting the race with 38 laps left in the Stage, a caution flew for debris in Turn Two at lap 102. Many drivers looking for stage points chose to stay off pit road with seven Team Chevy drivers lining up in the top-10 for the restart with 14 laps left in the Stage.
· Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez led the manufacturer to the end of Stage Two, driving his No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1 to a second-place finish in the Stage.
· Four Team Chevy drivers collected top-10 points in Stage Two:
2nd Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1
5th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally x Detroit Pistons Camaro ZL1
6th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
8th AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Farmsmart Camaro ZL1
FINAL STAGE / POST-RACE NOTES:
· Kyle Larson led Team Chevy to the checkered flag at Michigan International Speedway – driving his No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1 to a fifth-place finish.
· Four drivers from three different Chevrolet teams took top-10 finishing positions at the two-mile oval with Larson leading Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain in the sixth and seventh positions, respectively, and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’S Erik Jones rounding out the top-10.
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.
