Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Team Taken Out in Stage 1 Incident at Atlanta Motor Speedway

Finish: 35th
Start: 26th
Points: 20th

“Man, I’m so bummed out for this entire Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road team. We had a fast Chevy today – just ended up a victim of someone else’s mess. Our Chevy was really tight on the first run, then loose on the second run. After that, we were really good and coming. We just had nowhere to go. Thank the Good Lord above that we were okay. The hit looked bad, but the impact wasn’t as bad as it looked. I told myself that we were going to race hard all day rather than riding in the back, but when you got guys out there wrecking half the field, you might as well pick a different strategy. These Next Gen cars are hard to drive, and you’ve got to make them drive better when it’s hot outside. I thought we did a good job making my car get to the bottom. We were making a lot of headway in the race before we got caught up in someone else’s mess. We’re going to keep on keeping on, and work each week to get to Victory Lane. I want to thank Johnny Morris and all of the guys at Bass Pro Shops and TRACKER Off Road, along with everyone at RCR and ECR. We will get there.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet Team’s Strong Run at Atlanta Motor Speedway Slowed by On-Track Incident

Finish: 29th
Start: 4th
Points: 14th

“We had a great Alsco Chevrolet today at Atlanta Motor Speedway, so it’s a shame that we weren’t able to capitalize on it. The day was going well. We were running up front and competitive. We made a mistake in Stage 3 when I overshot my pit box. That hurt a lot because we didn’t have a lot of time to recover, and it put us far enough back to get caught up in a wreck. We had nowhere to go, but that is the situation I put us in. It’s pretty frustrating because it was very obvious that we had a fantastic car. We’ll head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway to try and rebound.” -Tyler Reddick

No. 6 Finishes despite Being Involved in Multiple Incidents

HAMPTON, Ga. (July 10, 2022) – In a race dominated by yellow flags, Brad Keselowski finished 20th in the Solomon Plumbing Ford and finished third in stage two despite being involved in two cautions.

The two-time Atlanta winner spent the first half of the race laying back, a strategy common throughout the field in Superspeedway racing. He ended the first 60-lap segment in 20th, and from there began his charge forward.

He would fire off tail end of the field for stage two, then had a fuel-only stop just prior to lap 100 which gave him solid track position. After the No. 17 blew a right front, ultimately ending his day, Keselowski restarted 11th with 18 to go in stage two.

Throughout the last few laps of the stage he weaved his way through the pack, ultimately going for the lead coming to three to go before the yellow came out, finishing third in the segment. Then, just a few laps into the third stage, the No. 6 caught some nose damage in an incident involving nine cars in total. He would ultimately drive away as five more cautions flew in the final 70 laps.

With 14 to go, Keselowski caught the tail end of a four-car incident on the front stretch, spinning through the infield turf, again taking on minimal damage. From there, a shootout finish ultimately ended the race with Keselowski bringing his Ford Mustang home in 20th.

The Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next for a 3 p.m. ET race next Sunday. It will air on USA Network, and can also be heard on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

P33 Finish for Fastenal Mustang

HAMPTON, Ga. (July 10, 2022) – The bad luck fell Chris Buescher’s way Sunday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway after he had speed in the Fastenal Ford, but was caught up in an incident midway through the race, with a mechanical failure ultimately ending his afternoon.

He began the day near the front in 11th after qualifying was washed away Saturday morning. The metric determined by NASCAR put him with a solid vantage point for the start of the 260-lap event.

Buescher maintained a patient approach for the first stage ending it in 26th, then rolled off 28th for the second segment. Just 18 laps into the second stage, the No. 78 went spinning and Buescher ultimately spun and made contact, which required some damage repairs on pit road.

He lost a lap to the leaders in the sequence, but got it right back just a few laps later as the big one at Atlanta ensued at lap 92, a wreck that involved nine different machines. Buescher restarted back on the lead lap just prior to lap 100, then a few laps later blew a right front, ultimately ending his day early.

The Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next for a 3 p.m. ET race next Sunday. It will air on USA Network, and can also be heard on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

STEWART-HAAS RACING
Atlanta 400

Date: July 10, 2022
Event: Atlanta 400 (Round 19 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia (1.54-mile oval)
Format: 260 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/100 laps/100 laps)
Race Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

SHR Race Finish:

● Aric Almirola (Started 22nd, Finished 8th / Running, completed 260 of 260 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 18th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 260 of 260 laps)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 10th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 260 of 260 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 14th, Finished 16th / Running, completed 260 of 260 laps)

SHR Points:

● Kevin Harvick (11th with 504 points, 180 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (12th with 481 points, 203 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (18th with 443 points, 241 out of first)
● Cole Custer (26th with 323 points, 361 out of first)

SHR Notes:

● Almirola earned his sixth top-10 of the season and his third top-10 in 14 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Atlanta.

● Almirola’s eighth-place result equaled his previous best finish at Atlanta, He finished eighth in February 2019.

● Custer earned his first top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in five career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Atlanta.

● Custer’s ninth-place result bettered his previous best finish of the season – 11th, earned in February at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. His previous best finish at Atlanta was 17th, earned last July.

Race Notes:

● Chase Elliott won the Atlanta 400 to score his 16th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his first at Atlanta. He crossed the finish line under caution ahead of second-place Ross Chastain.

● There were 13 caution periods for a total of 64 laps.

● Only 21 of the 36 drivers in the Atlanta 400 finished on the lead lap.

● Elliott remains the championship leader after Atlanta with a 47-point advantage over second-place Ryan Blaney.

Sound Bites:

“We just didn’t have the speed we needed to go up and compete. That one restart where I was leading the bottom lane, we didn’t have what we needed to keep up. Our car was pretty good. We got it driving good there at the end, but we couldn’t muster up the speed we needed to go hang with those Chevrolets. The Chevrolets were really, really fast. I didn’t think it was better racing (than the Atlanta race in March). I thought the racetrack was a little more narrow. We couldn’t run the top up against the fence like we could in the spring. That kind of limited the options and kind of choked everybody down to two-wide.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Ford Pro Ford Mustang

“We got the car way better. The guys worked really hard and made great adjustments throughout the day. By the end, I thought we were just as good as anybody. We could’ve had a shot to win there. I think we were running in the top-five on the last lap, but somebody wrecked in front of us and we got knocked back a little bit, but overall it was a good day of hopefully finding a direction, and I think it was nice to go up there and run with those guys and show that we can have some speed.” – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

“I just couldn’t do anything in traffic. The car was really tight in traffic, which made it hard to race close to anybody. When they were side-by-side, I would lose the nose really bad. We hung around and finished the race. Sometimes that’s what you’ve got to do at these places.” – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang

“I felt like balance was definitely more of an issue than the first (Atlanta) race, for sure, with the hotter temperatures. I felt like we got it to where we were pretty decent and I was able to start working the wall a little more than a couple of other guys. I went to pass the 10 and as soon as I did, I guess I just got too high and got to where it was dirty still and killed the right-rear quarterpanel and everything else, so that kind of affected the rest of our day. I’m happy we were able to somewhat salvage a 16th, but I felt like if we didn’t have the damage, it would’ve been a lot better day. We’ll go on to New Hampshire next week and see if we can improve on it.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers / Cummins Ford Mustang

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Ambetter 301 on Sunday, July 17 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
QUAKER STATE 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
JULY 10, 2022

CHASE ELLIOTT SCORES HOMETOWN WIN AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Chevrolet’s Fourth-Consecutive NCS Win; 11th of 2022

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team scored their third win of 2022 at his hometown track of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

· The win is Elliott’s 16th-career victory in 240 NASCAR Cup Series starts.

· Elliott is now the only driver to score three NASCAR Cup Series wins thus far this season.

· Elliott’s triumph is the 11th of the season for the Camaro ZL1, as well as extended Chevrolet’s streak to four-consecutive wins.

· The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 825 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
2nd ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1
4th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1
6th DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1
7th JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
2nd Ross Chastain (Chevrolet)
3rd Austin Cindric (Ford)
4th Erik Jones (Chevrolet)
5th Ryan Blaney (Ford)

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, July 17, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with the Ambetter 301 at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner

THAT FINISH WAS CRAZY. YOU WIN BOTH OF THE STAGES TODAY AND FOR THESE FANS HERE AT ATLANTA, THE HOMETOWN BOY DELIVERS. YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF BIG WINS IN YOUR CAREER. I CAN THINK OF ONE IN PHOENIX THAT GOT YOU A TITLE, BUT WHERE DOES THIS RANK ON THE ALL-TIME LIST?

“This one is up there for sure, man. To win at your home track is a really big deal.. I think to any race car driver. I’ve watched a lot of guys do it over the years; Jimmie (Johnson) out in California. We haven’t really had a very good run here, so I felt like today was a great opportunity for us.

But just so proud. This is obviously home for me. Home to a lot of great fans who made a lot of noise today. Home for NAPA right down the road in Atlanta. Couldn’t be more proud of our team. What a car. I’m not sure we’ve ever had a speedway car that good. If we have, I’ve probably wrecked it down at Daytona.

But just, man, what a few weeks it’s been. I feel like I gave one away last week, and to come back and to put on a performance like that, I’m really proud of that.

Excited to get home. It’s going to be a big one tonight. I’m looking forward to it.”

I’VE GOT TO ASK YOU ABOUT THE LAST LAP. YOU HAD TO GO UP AND BLOCK THE NO. 7 (COREY LAJOIE). YOU ACTUALLY SAID “I’M SORRY” ON THE RADIO. WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND ON THAT FINAL LAP?

“Obviously I knew he was going to have a big run. I didn’t really want to give him the bottom, and I tried to give it one real good aggressive block. I felt like I had enough room to kind of give it a second one, and he was just right there on the right side of my back bumper, so was far enough to the backside of the bumper to launch me forward. I hate I tore up some cars, but I don’t know what you do.. either go for the win or don’t. I’m going to choose option A every day of the week.”

WE’VE BEEN LIVE ALL DAY AT THE POOL ROOM WITH RUTLEDGE. IS IT OKAY IF RUTLEDGE RINGS THE SIREN TONIGHT?

“Tell him not to break it now. That thing is really special.

Just thank you guys so much for coming out. Y’all made a lot of noise today. Can’t wait to head back up 400 and get back home. I want to say hey to my mom and dad. I know they’re watching at home. I wish they were here. This is a really special day for us. And just thank you to all the fans here in Georgia who have supported me and supported my family for many years.

Really just proud of this, and we’re going to enjoy it.”

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd

“I hate that I took the best car here and I tore it up a couple of times. Hats off to Chevrolet and Trackhouse Racing for bringing this fast of a Jockey Chevrolet. Our road crew and our pit crew did an awesome job to rebound through all of the damage repair. We had a shot and I got inside of the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) coming off of (turn) two coming to the checkered and the caution came out. I hope everyone is alright back there.

Awesome job to Corey LaJoie and Spire Motorsports. I really thought into (turn) one when we took the white that I was going to push him to the win. They all just fought for the top and almost gave it to us.”

WHEN YOU LOOK BACK AT THOSE RESTARTS, WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING ANY DIFFERENTLY AND IF SO, WHAT?

“Not the last couple. Earlier, we had the option to take the front row. We were second and I chose behind him (Corey LaJoie) because we were worried about fuel. I knew better.. I should have just taken the front row and dealt with the fuel. We were trying to make sure we were on offense at the end of the day for our Jockey Chevrolet.

On a day like today, I feel like we won way more restarts. I feel like my lane moved when I was in it and I’m proud of that. I’m proud of this car and this team to give me the ability to do that.”

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th

“I thought our day was good. Our No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevy was quick. We needed a tick more speed. I think we had to do some things for handling that slowed us down a little bit. We were up there, but I couldn’t really break out and do much. When I got in the lead there, I wasn’t really quick enough to hold it myself.

We were close. It feels good to just have a good race. We’ve had a rough month, so it’s nice to get a top-five and get some points.”

AS THE RACE ENDED, I HEARD ON THE RADIO “MAN, ONE OF THESE IS GOING TO BE OURS”. DESPITE A GREAT FINISH, DO YOU FIND THIS MOTIVATING OR DISCOURAGING?

“It’s motivating. I think our superspeedway and 1.5-mile stuff has been so good all year. We were close here in the spring in the end and we were close again today. We were close at Talladega and close in Daytona. So, all the superspeedway races, we’ve been really fast. We’re there, we just need to have one play out for us. I would have loved to have run that last lap out. I think Ross (Chastain) and Chase (Elliott) were going to run each other pretty hard in (turns) three and four, and I would have loved to have a chance to make something happen. I feel like we’ve been close at a lot of superspeedways, just haven’t closed one out. I would love to get the No. 43 in victory lane and I hope we can do it before the playoffs.

JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th

“It was a good day again here in Atlanta. I feel like this No. 31 LeafFilter Chevrolet team has succeeded in finding a good, fast, stable setup for the new Atlanta track. So overall it was a good day and just a little bit better than where we were in the spring.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 ALSCO UNIFORMS CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 171; Finished 29th

“We had a great Alsco Chevrolet today at Atlanta Motor Speedway, so it’s a shame that we weren’t able to capitalize on it. The day was going well. We were running up front and competitive. We made a mistake in Stage 3 when I overshot my pit box. That hurt a lot because we didn’t have a lot of time to recover, and it put us far enough back to get caught up in a wreck. We had nowhere to go, but that is the situation I put ourselves in. It’s pretty frustrating because it was very obvious that we had a fantastic car. We’ll head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway to try and rebound.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 171; Finished 30th

“The racing was fine. I thought the track had a little bit less grip. Our No. 24 Axalta Chevy was good out front. We could hang around the top-five. We struggled a little bit there on the pit stop sequence. We took four tires and we started way back, and we just got into someone else’s mess.

We were eighth to finish the stage. Thinking that in the final stage some guys would stay out, we just seemed to net out further back than we thought we would. We ended up like 18th or 19th and had to restart there, and that’s where the wreck happened. It was just unfortunate that we were back there. I don’t know if there is anything we could have really done because we had taken right side tires before then and our tires were pretty old.

We kind of hovered around the top-eight all day and unfortunately we’re out. Thank you to Axalta, Chevrolet and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We’ll keep working hard and it will change soon.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY MILESTONE CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined due to damage sustained after a tire went down on lap 160; Finished 32nd

WAS THERE ANY WARNING ABOUT THE TIRE GOING DOWN AND WAS IT ANY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU WERE FEELING IN MARCH?

“I don’t think we had a tire go down in March. Fortunately, I was one of the guys that didn’t have an issue. But it sounds like I’m the one guy that had an issue today. No warning, we were just cruising around. We had a phenomenal race car. Really proud of Greg (Ives, Crew Chief) and the No. 48 team. We struggled pretty bad back here in March and our Chevy was really, really good today.

No. 48 Ally Milestone Chevy was getting up through the field pretty good there. Bummer that it ended like that, but at least we had a fast race car.”

NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 16 GOLD FISH CASINO SLOTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 34th

“We had an early end to our day in the No. 16 Gold Fish Casino Slots Camaro. We were on track to have a really solid day and showed some speed. Unfortunately, we couldn’t avoid a wreck in front of us that caused heavy damage to the right front. We had nowhere to go, but I hate it for everyone at Kaulig Racing who have been working hard on these cars.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1, sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 92; Finished 35th

“Man, I’m so bummed out for this entire Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road team. We had a fast Chevy today – just ended up a victim of someone else’s mess. Our Chevy was really tight on the first run, then loose on the second run. After that, we were really good and coming. We just had nowhere to go. Thank the Good Lord above that we were okay. The hit looked bad, but the impact wasn’t as bad as it looked. I told myself that we were going to race hard all day rather than riding in the back, but when you got guys out there wrecking half the field, you might as well pick a different strategy. These Next Gen cars are hard to drive, and you’ve got to make them drive better when it’s hot outside. I thought we did a good job making my car get to the bottom. We were making a lot of headway in the race before we got caught up in someone else’s mess. We’re going to keep on keeping on, and work each week to get to Victory Lane. I want to thank Johnny Morris and all of the guys at Bass Pro Shops and TRACKER Off Road, along with everyone at RCR and ECR. We will get there.”

TEAM CHEVY QUICK NOTES

Stage One:

· Due to precipitation, the starting lineup for the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway was determined by the NASCAR rule book.

· Row One and Two of the starting lineup were taken by Chevrolet drivers, led by pole sitter Chase Elliott. Ross Chastain started second; Kyle Larson started third; and last week’s race winner, Tyler Reddick, started fourth.

· Chase Elliott took the Stage One win, his first in his career at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

· Team Chevy Stage One Top-Five:

Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 (1st)

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Milestone Camaro ZL1 (2nd)

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Jockey Camaro ZL1 (3rd)

Stage Two:

· During the round of pit stops ahead of the start of Stage Two, Randall Burnett (crew chief) called Tyler Reddick down pit road for a two tire stop, bringing the No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Camaro ZL1 off pit road first for a front row starting spot for the stage.

· The end of Stage Two saw Georgia native, Chase Elliott, take the checkered flag to sweep today’s stage wins.

· This is Elliott’s fifth stage win of 2022, with Elliott now sitting as a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard for the most stage wins thus far this season.

· Team Chevy Stage Two Top-Five:

Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 (1st)

Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Camaro ZL1 (2nd)

Post-Race Notes:

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team scored their third win of 2022 at his hometown track of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

· The win is Elliott’s 16th-career victory in 240 NASCAR Cup Series starts.

· Elliott is now the only driver to score three NASCAR Cup Series wins thus far this season.

· Elliott’s triumph is the 11th of the season for the Camaro ZL1, as well as extended Chevrolet’s streak to four-consecutive wins.

· The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 825 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.

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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Quaker State 400 | Saturday, July 10, 2022

FORD FINISHING RESULTS
3rd – Austin Cindric
5th – Ryan Blaney
8th – Aric Almirola
9th – Cole Custer
10th – Harrison Burton
12th – Kevin Harvick
15th – Michael McDowell
16th – Chase Briscoe
17th – Todd Gilliland
18th – Brad Keselowski
23rd – Cody Ware
26th – Joey Logano
27th – Garrett Smithley
33rd – Chris Buescher
36th – BJ McLeod

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang – YOUR MUSTANG SEEMED TO COME TO LIFE IN THE LAST STAGE. “It came to life. We had to do a little CPR there early. We were struggling pretty bad. We were pretty loose to start the race and I’m just proud of the effort from the guys on the 2 car, being able to make the right adjustments and get us out of a hole there. We went from not being able to go full throttle by myself on the racetrack to being able to run close behind other guys wide-open, so I’m proud of that effort and proud of a top-three finish. I felt like we deserved to be up there by the end of the race after we established track position. It was a solid day. I wish we could have gotten the Quaker State Ford in victory lane in the Quaker State 400, but a top-three is pretty good.”

HOW DID THE RACING COMPARE TO MARCH? “Well, I finished. That’s an improvement. I don’t know if it’s because I felt like our car was a little better or I ran more up front, but I definitely feel like the racing at least made more sense. Handling seemed to come into play and you could pick and choose your battles by how good you were versus kind of just being stuck. I enjoyed today’s race more than I did the spring.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang – “We were OK. We just lacked a little speed. We were decent, but we kind of lost track position there when some guys only did fuel and it was hard to get back up. Luckily, we ended up with a decent finish. We’ll go on to next week. We survived it and now we’ll get out of here.”

IT SOUNDED LIKE YOU WERE AN ADJUSTMENT AWAY ALL DAY. “It was a pretty good day. We got back in traffic there a little bit and it was just hard to make it back up. You just can’t go anywhere. It gets two-wide and you’re just stuck and you can’t really go anywhere, unless you were the 9 and you were the fastest car out there by a mile. It was pretty easy for him to go wherever he wanted. That looked fun, but, I’m just happy to end up decent. This race is just like a survival race pretty much. That’s what you’re gonna get when you’re speedway racing on a mile-and-a-half, so luckily we were able to survive it and get out of here with an OK finish.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Ford Pro Ford Mustang – “We just didn’t have the speed we needed to go up and compete. That one restart where I was leading the bottom lane we didn’t have what we needed to keep up. Our car was pretty good. We got it driving good there at the end, but we couldn’t muster up the speed we needed to go hang with those Chevrolets. The Chevrolets were really, really fast.”

THOUGHTS ON HOW THIS RACE WAS COMPARED TO THE FIRST ONE IN THE SPRING? “I didn’t think it was better racing. I thought the racetrack was a little more narrow. We couldn’t run the top up against the fence like we could in the spring. That kind of limited the options and kind of choked everybody down to two-wide.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang – “I just couldn’t do anything in traffic. The car was really tight in traffic, which made it hard to race close to anybody. When they were side-by-side I would lose the nose really bad. We hung around and finished the race. Sometimes that’s what you’ve got to do at these places.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang – “I felt like balance was definitely more of an issue than the first race, for sure, with the hotter temperatures. I felt like we got it to where we were pretty decent and I was able to start working the wall a little more than a couple other guys. I went to pass the 10 and as soon as I did I guess I just got too high and got to where it was dirty still and killed the right-rear quarter panel and everything else so that kind of affected the rest of our day. I’m happy we were able to somewhat salvage a 16th, but I felt like if we didn’t have the damage, it would have been a lot better day. We’ll go on to New Hampshire next week and see if we can improve on it.”

COLE CUSTER, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang – “We got the car way better. The guys worked really hard and made great adjustments throughout the day. By the end, I thought we were just as good as anybody. We could have had a shot to win there. I think we were running in the top five on the last lap, but somebody wrecked in front of us and we got knocked back a little bit, but overall it was a good day of hopefully finding a direction and I think it was nice to go up there and run with those guys and show that we can have some speed.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang – “It’s a different racetrack. It’s not the Atlanta that I grew up loving, but BJ came over and apologized already. I think coming off of trun two it flattens out a little bit and it took off on him. While we all checked up and spun out we made just a little bit of contact with him while we were sliding and it sounds like it may have been enough to bend a right-front component and ultimately ended up blowing a tire.”

A TOUGH BREAK FROM THE GOOD RUNS YOU’VE HAD OF LATE? “Yeah, it is. RFK has done a terrific job at making a lot of progress and finding a lot of speed. We’re gonna put this one behind us real quick because this is not an indicator of what we’ve been able to accomplish here lately. I guess it’s similar to superpeedways where there’s a lot of luck involved in this style of racing. We’ll regroup and be ready to hit the ground running again. I’m real excited for these next couple coming up.”

TOYOTA DRIVERS TOOK TIME OUT FRONT AT ATLANTA
After Leading Laps, Attrition Impacted Camrys at Reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway

HAMPTON, Ga. (July 10, 2022) – Toyota drivers of Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Christopher Bell all took turns within the top-five and leading the pack in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Unfortunately attrition in the closing laps and contact from other competitors would impact their finishing results with Truex (11th) claiming the top Toyota finish.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Race 19 of 36 – 400 miles, 260 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Chase Elliott*
2nd, Ross Chastain*
3rd, Austin Cindric*
4th, Erik Jones*
5th, Ryan Blaney*
11th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
14th, BUBBA WALLACE
19th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
20th, KYLE BUSCH
22nd, KURT BUSCH
25th, DENNY HAMLIN
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Coca-Cola Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 25th

After having a solid top-five run, Ross Chastain made contact with you, how frustrating is it to lose what could have been a strong finish?

“It’s just frustrating. We were in pretty good position, but ultimately got taken out.”

Are you frustrated with Ross Chastain after the contact that impacted your race?

“Yeah, of course.”

Is this something you need to digest for a while before saying too much?

“I’m done speaking, I just have to go race.”

How was your race going before the incident with Ross Chastain?

“We were in really good position and we were about to be clear of the 1 (Ross Chastain) and be in third in the outside line. I was really happy with where I was at for sure. I think the 1 probably sensed that we were about to clear him so he chased us up there and got into us.”

At what point has the line been crossed too many times?

“It’s all in whatever level I’m willing to take. It’s just another unfortunate circumstance for him.”

Can Ross Chastain win a championship with as many drivers he has made upset this season?

“Everyone has different tolerance levels and as you all know, I’ve reached my peak.”

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