NASCAR Cup Series

Camry driver Denny Hamlin was the top-finishing Toyota driver in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) Playoffs race at Dover International Speedway after placing second.

Chase Elliott wins the Gander Outdoors 400 at Dover International Speedway after a thrilling final 10 laps to advance to third round of playoffs. "Just perseverance and good adjustments throughout the day. It was just a great effort. I appreciate everybody and all my partners, NAPA, Valvoline, Hooters, SunEnergy1, Chevrolet, Mountain Dew, and Kelley Blue Book. It’s been an up-and-down year, I feel like. To have this race slip away last year makes the day that much more sweet." Elliott said.

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Haas VF1/Rush Truck Centers Ford Fusion – “We broke and I hit the wall. I’m just really disappointed. I’m frustrated with our day, obviously, we had a very fast race car. I got tore up passing a lapper and then all of a sudden we had a loose wheel, I think it was a loose wheel, and then we went back out and broke something in the front end and it was two different things. When we pitted it was something in the rear, obviously, the right-rear, the left-rear was loose, it was all out of control, and then all of a sudden we went back out it was fine, so I took back off and then I think something in the left-front broke, it just went straight – whether I ran over something, I don’t know. I’m just sick for Aric. He had that race won. It was his win and unfortunately his teammate had trouble and took him out of it.”

Kevin Harvick wore his signature shades and sarcastic smile, on pit road after the race. He was disappointed that a dominant victory slipped away, and a good points day didn’t make it better.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – RACE WINNER - YOU ARE SHAKING YOUR HEAD ALMOST IN DISBELIEF. YOU TOLD YOUR GUYS, THANKS FOR NOT GIVING UP ALL DAY LONG. HOW MUCH OF THIS WIN IS ABOUT PERSEVERANCE? “Oh, a lot! We had a (speeding) penalty there, early, and fell behind. Luckily, I had a good enough car and a good strategy to get back."

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Quickest in Saturday’s Happy Hour Practice Session - IT WOULD SEEM THE CAR IS THE BEST OUT THERE DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT? “I think looking at actual lap tracker the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) is better than we are, but I feel like our Credit One Bank Chevy is really good. I think we are a close second to him. He is able to run the bottom pretty well. It seems like I’ve got to kind of move around a little bit more, but so far, happy with it."

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How much better is the pole than where you think you’d qualify? “Probably six or eight spots, I believe. It definitely bodes well for us and our Interstate Batteries Camry. I thought we had a decent car in practice. The way it felt, it felt good. It didn’t show the speeds on the speed charts. As the practice went on and guys were making their second and thirds of runs, they were coming back to us in lap times. Our car was really consistent over the runs and we were running the same lap times. Other guys started really fast and they were coming to us a little bit. Hard to tell. Certainly better for us to not have to go out there and bust a fast lap. Speeds were way high here this morning. With the cooler temperatures, it seemed like it was going to be way fast. Excited to have the number one spot going into Sunday. Great opportunity to start the Round of 12 and get rocking.”

A rain shower over Dover International Speedway has washed out qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) Gander Outdoors 400, the 30th race of the 2018 season and the first race in the Round of 12, the second segment of the 10-race Cup Series Playoffs.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Dover International Speedway and discussed last weekend’s race at the Charlotte Roval, his outlook for the Round of 12 in the Playoffs, his thoughts on the 2019 rules package and many other topics. Full Transcript:

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – THE NEW RULES PACKAGE CAME OUT. CAN SLOWER BE BETTER? “Yeah, I think so. I think it can be. I think there’s a lot of unknowns. We don’t know how it’s gonna be yet, but I think there’s a lot of opportunity for it to be better as well. I think the halfway test that we’ve kind of had is the All-Star Race and what we’ve seen in the XFINITY Series so far with a package that’s close to it. Your foot is in the gas pipe a lot more, but at the same time you’re able to make a lot of moves with the draft and change a lot of different lines. The All-Star Race was a lot of fun, but obviously that’s an All-Star Race, so I think we need to have a little asterisk next to it and say it was the All-Star Race and everyone is racing for all-or-nothing and have that attitude, but I think at the same time this package, at a lot of race tracks I think it will be better and at some race tracks it may be similar to where we’re at, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”