NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY R.C.
ROUND OF 12: ELIMINATION RACE
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT
OCT. 13, 2024
Larson Drives Chevrolet to Fourth-Straight Win of the Season at the Charlotte ROVAL
Four Team Chevy Drivers Advance to the Round of Eight
TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10:
POS. DRIVER
1st – Kyle Larson
3rd – William Byron
5th – Chase Elliott
6th – AJ Allmendinger
7th – Shane van Gisbergen
WITH 32 NASCAR CUP SERIES RACES COMPLETE:
Wins: 15
Poles: 10
Top-five Finishes: 63
Top-10 Finishes: 129
Stage Wins: 22
- Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson drove Chevrolet to its fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season in the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. The victory – Larson’s sixth this season and 29th all-time in the division – marks his second trip to victory lane at the North Carolina circuit, with his first coming in his championship-earning season.
- The 32-year-old Elk Grove, California, native delivered Chevrolet its 15th NASCAR Cup Series victory this season; its fifth win in seven NASCAR Cup Series races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course; and its 866th all-time in NASCAR’s top division – all of which are series-leading feats.
- The victory marks Chevrolet’s 10th victory in 15 road course races in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Next Gen era – recorded by six drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations.
- Entering the NASCAR Cup Series’ Round of Eight, Chevrolet leads its manufacturer competitors with four drivers continuing in title contention, with Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates – William Byron, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman – advancing following the conclusion of the elimination race.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 1st
“It was a great day, for sure. This place has not been easy on me. This is probably the most difficult track out of the road courses for me. I put in a lot of work this week; a lot of studying and a few hours in the sim. It’s cool to win here with Cliff’s (Daniel, crew chief) family and everybody’s family. Just a great day for the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevy team. Execution from start to finish was amazing.”
Was it easy for you, or was it as easy as it looked?
“Honestly, there at the end, it wasn’t as easy as I was expecting. I felt like when (Christopher) Bell was behind me earlier….once we got to a certain point of the run, I could really pull away. Then there at the end, he was really matching me, and I was driving pretty hard. So, I was nervous that I was going to start fading some more and he was going to get better and get close to me. But thankfully, I could push a little bit and get some time back in other areas where I was good. We just had a great race car, a comfortable race car, which is what you need here. A lot more comfort than I have had in the past.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 VALVOLINE CONFETTI CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 3rd
How was that race from your perspective?
“It was an OK day for the No. 24 Valvoline Confetti Chevy team. I feel like the whole day, we were just trying to find a little bit more pace. We could get better in some areas, and then other areas, we just struggled. It seemed like the back chicane, we just struggled changing direction there. It was kind of all we had. It was a good day, but we definitely wanted more. We just weren’t quite good enough.”
Next week is certainly a different track. Moving into the next round with a third-place finish has to be good momentum..
“Yeah, it feels good. We’ve always been pretty good in this round. The way it’s laid out, I don’t really know why, but we’ve just executed really well and not made many mistakes. That’s the key and I feel like in this next round, trying to continue to build more speed will be critical, and we’ll kind of see where we are from there.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 5th
What does this say about your team and how prepared you were in 2024?
“Yeah, really, really proud of the effort today by this No. 9 UniFirst Chevy team. We put ourselves in the worst possible position you could for a good finish. To get back into the top-five there, it was definitely a solid day. It’s nice to get through to the Round of Eight. There was a little bit of craziness here and there, but it’s nice to make it happen.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 18th
You advanced to the Round of Eight. You have to be pretty pumped about that, right?
“Yeah, for sure. It’s hard to be pumped after running 18th at, what I would say, is one of my better or best racetracks. But at the same time, it feels really good to have all four Hendrick Motorsports Chevy’s make the Round of Eight. It’s really cool for Ally to get them this far. We’re going to keep on digging.”
DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 31 CIRKUL CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 25th
“Not the finish we wanted today. We had a really good No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet, on top of a solid strategy by [crew chief] Trent Owens. Unfortunately, we got spun and never caught a caution to get new tires.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 CHOICE PRIVILEGES CAMARO ZLE
Finished: 31st
Is there disappointed that your team didn’t make the playoffs, or is this just something to build off of?
“Honestly, the fact that we’re out of the playoffs, that hurts a little bit. But for me personally, it hurts way more the way we got eliminated. This entire No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevy team works really hard to bring really fast racecars to the track each weekend. This weekend, we just didn’t have it. I feel like we were going to make a little headway and we were right there, and then we had brake issues.
It’s just painful. It’s painful to be out the of the playoffs this way.. that’s the part that’s more painful than anything. If we would have finished fifth and I was out of the playoffs, I would be happy. We worked really hard, but for some reason it didn’t show today.”
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