NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
COKE ZERO SUGAR 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT
AUGUST 24, 2024
Busch Leads Chevrolet With Runner-Up Finish at Daytona International Speedway
- Battling to keep their championship title hopes alive, Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1 team came just .047 seconds from the victory – ultimately taking the checkered-flag in the runner-up position after a chaotic overtime restart for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
- After losing the regular season points lead at Michigan International Speedway last weekend, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1 team earned crucial points in both stages. Running fourth with less nine laps to go, Larson was caught up in a multi-car wreck that took his chances away from his first career victory at the “World Center of Racing”. Making repairs to ultimately cross the finish line in the 21st position, Larson will head into the series’ regular season finale at Darlington Raceway sitting in the second position in the standings and 17 points behind current points leader Tyler Reddick.
- Amidst the battle for his second career regular season title, Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team were collected in a multi-car incident while running mid-pack during Stage Two. Suffering too much suspension damage to continue, the former series champion was forced to retire early from the race – moving the Team Chevy driver to the third position and 18 points from the points lead.
TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10:
POS. DRIVER
2nd Kyle Busch
7th Parker Retzlaff
9th Daniel Hemric
WITH 25 NASCAR CUP SERIES RACES COMPLETE:
Wins: 11
Poles: 7
Top-Five Finishes: 42
Top-10 Finishes: 91
Stage Wins: 13
UP NEXT: The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season concludes at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out Southern 500 on Sunday, September 1, at 6 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1
Finished: 12th
You’re 27 points below the cutline. How do you feel going into Darlington?
“I look at it like we have another chance to go win the Southern 500. That’s what I’m focused on this week. The points, they give them out at the stages and end of the race. If you run good, they give you a lot of them. I just get excited for a chance to go win the Southern 500.”
When you get in an incident early like that, drive around and hope for the breaks you need to get back to the front, are you thinking about the points situation?
“I was just hoping it would stay running, keep the water in it and be able to keep up with the pack. Looking at the car, it was amazing it did. The whole splitter is off of it; dragging the ground. Yeah, it’s pretty incredible that we were even able to finish. I thought the radiator was going to be gone. We’re fortunate to finish, but yeah, as I’m riding around – mainly in Stage Two when I dropped back from the pack and was going to be the free pass, I thought through all of it then. And then the whole final stage, it was all about trying to execute and maximize what we could.”
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1
Finished: 2nd
“It’s just frustrating. We’ve led races here at Daytona going into the last restart and haven’t been able to pull off a victory. Not sure what it is; what I’m doing wrong or what it is that I’m missing. It seems like the energy broke up off of turn two and the No. 20 (Christopher Bell) got crooked and wasn’t on my rear bumper the way we needed to be. The outside lane just went by. I wanted to get up in front of the No. 21 (Harrison Burton) because I knew the momentum was coming there. But I knew the No. 20 was a better friend. It just didn’t work out.”
You did everything right tonight. How do you square this one?
“Just finished second. It’s all good. We were really, really, really lucky tonight to miss a few of those crashes.
All good. Just real proud of everybody; Randall (Burnett, crew chief), all the guys at RCR and ECR. They did a great job and brought a fast car. Was hoping we could get those free No. 8 specials on Monday for everybody; get some chicken tenders rolling, but wasn’t meant to be. We’ll take this. We’ve got a good little stretch here going with these last three weeks, and hope we can do what we need to do next week.”
Can you go on and win the Southern 500 next week?
“Yeah, I mean, we want to. We ran good there the first time I ran with these guys early last year. But early this year, we struggled mightily. We’ll just have to go with hopefully a really good package that works and get our job done.”
Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL1
Finished: 9th
“Speedway racing. It was chaotic. I thought we lined up pretty well there for the green-white-checkered and tried to formulate something going into (turns) three and four. I made a move to separate and I got shoved. Luckily, I got a big shot coming to the line to even get back forward and get spots back into the top-10. All-in-all, it was a decent day for the No. 31 Cirkul Chevy team. Appreciate Cirkul and all they do for us; all the people we have here supporting us. Looking forward to going to one of the coolest race tracks in the country next weekend.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/BIGGIE Muffins/ Capri Sun Camaro ZL1
Finished: 33rd
“I was just running the middle there. Kind of saved our car all day. Actually made our way to the front a little quicker than I thought we were going to be able to. That caution kind of killed us. We’d been saving a ton of fuel. In the spot we were in, I felt like we were going to gain some track position on that green flag pit stop. Obviously, we didn’t get that, and were mired back there in 20th, and so we got the third row in the middle there, and it looked like the No. 2 just turned the No. 34 and then we piled in there. Just part of it.”
“I felt like we got towards the front. We were really setting ourself up for that green flag pit stop. We were saving a ton of fuel. When the caution came out, it kind of screwed our strategy up. Being 20th and coming in and not really gaining anything on your pit stop, so it kind of put us in a bad spot. Kind of had to make our way up through there and put ourselves in the middle. I didn’t really like being in the middle but I had to make some moves. I think we got somewhere close to the top 10, and looked like the No. 2 turned the No. 34 and we just piled in. We were hoping for a green flag pit stop, because that’s what we were really setting up ourselves for. Hopefully jump a lot of cars and jump into the top-10 that way. But, didn’t happen.”
Parker Retzlaff, No. 62 Funkaway Camaro ZL1
Finished: 7th
What does this finish mean to you?
“Yeah, it was definitely a good run for the No. 62 Funkaway Chevy team. I’m happy with a top-10 finish. I came in here today saying I wanted a top-15. Coming out of turn four there, knowing I was third or maybe fourth to the No. 20 (Christopher Bell), I knew I had a shot. I’m happy we gave this team a shot. We had an amazing car. Thank you to Darren (Shaw, crew chief) and everyone at Beard Motorsports; the Beard family for everything they’ve done and the support of Funkaway. I’m happy about it, but I still want more.”
Talk about the emotion of this sport.
“It’s just been my dream to be here in the Cup Series at Daytona. It was my first one and I feel like I gave myself a shot. Coming so close and not getting it just hurts a little bit.”
What was it like there at the end?
“It was just really aggressive. Everyone was pushing as hard as they can. It just very aggressive, but that’s how this racing gets and that’s why you see wrecks like you do. You have to be lucky and miss the wrecks, but also have a fast enough car to be there at the end.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in a multi-car incident during Stage Two.
Finished: 36th
What happened from your perspective?
“Yeah, I honestly have no idea. I just think that everybody was kind of playing games. Nobody wanted to lead, and it just kind of puts everyone in a tough spot. We were all just kind of stacked up there. Somebody was switching lanes, it looked like, and got out of shape. It’s a bummer. It was so early in the race. I would just like an opportunity to get a little deeper into it and just see where things shook out. We’ve been pretty lucky these last couple of trips down here to Daytona. It’s just unfortunate, but we’ll try to have a good weekend at Darlington.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Camaro ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an incident on pit road.
Finished: 40th
“I was doing my pit stop just like every single weekend. The No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) was right behind me and the No. 21 (Harrison Burton) was right in front of me, so unfortunately I got boxed in. We know that every single time we do a pit stop, we drop a little bit of fuel and that’s completely normal. Unfortunately, the No. 11 was leaving his pit stall right behind me, and because he was waiting for me to leave, his exhaust fired up the little fuel I dropped. Because I was still parked there, that went up the back of my car where the fuel cell is and it just grabbed it. It was a very unfortunate situation. I don’t know what we could have done differently. Just sad that we’re out of the race this way, but I’m glad I’m fine and the entire team was fine.
The other crazy thing is that I was able to feel the heat, but because I don’t run a rearview mirror and only run the rearview camera, I couldn’t see it. The rearview camera is connected to the rear bumper, so I could see the smoke, but I couldn’t see the fire. I could feel the heat, but I couldn’t see how big it was.”
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. 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.
