DENNY DELIVERS FIRST WIN OF 2021 WHEN IT COUNTS
Hamlin and Truex Kickoff Playoffs Strong

DARLINGTON, SC. (September 5, 2021) – Denny Hamlin started the first round of the NASCAR Playoffs just the way he wanted, with his first win of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season at Darlington Raceway. The win will lock Hamlin and the No. 11 Camry team into the second round of the Playoffs as they battle for this year’s championship. Fellow Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. (fourth) also claimed a top-five finish at the historic South Carolina raceway.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Darlington Raceway
Race 27 of 36 – 367 laps, 501.3 miles

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, DENNY HAMLIN
2nd, Kyle Larson*
3rd, Ross Chastain*
4th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
5th, Kevin Harvick*
20th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
21st, BUBBA WALLACE
35th, KYLE BUSCH
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Offerpad Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 1st

How big is this victory for you and this team?

“Southern 500, it’s a big win. I love this race track. It’s by far my favorite race track. It’s just great — can’t thank the Offerpad guys enough for everything they do and FedEx and Shady Ray’s, the Jordan Brand, just everyone — Coca-Cola, Toyota, everyone at JGR that builds these fast cars.”

What did you think of the move that Kyle Larson tried on you during the final lap?

“He (Kyle Larson) drove it in past the limit of the cars and the tires. I knew he was coming. I was a little bit conservative on that last lap because I had that four-car-length lead. I didn’t think it was going go that deep, but yeah, still a great race. It’s been back and forth with me and him most of the year. He’s just been a little bit faster on these type of race tracks, and luckily the caution came when it did and the strategy worked out great for the team, but man, I’m really happy.”

How significant is this victory at this point in the season?

“It was a matter of time. We can’t just keep leading inside 10 laps to go every week and not get a win. Yesterday was some unique circumstances but, man, I tell you what, I couldn’t be happier for this win and now to move to the Round of 12.”

How special is it to get your first win of the season in the Playoffs?

“We had a couple breaks here and there that got us the track position, but we were top-three all night. Just drove as hard as I could that last run. The balance was just a little off, but we were able to hold off the 5 (Kyle Larson) just enough.”

How difficult is it to drive this track while watching in your rearview mirror?

“A lot of it is aero-blocking, you listen to what the spotter is telling you and what line he’s running and you just put your car in front of his. That’s so much of what we do today is just blocking people aero-wise, but this car was very fast. Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) did a great job adjusting on it all night and gave me a race winner.”

What was going on in the final set of turns?

“I knew he (Kyle Larson) was going to drive in deep, but I didn’t think he was going to go that deep in the corner. Obviously, I knew he wasn’t going to make it, but still he rattled me a little bit to where he got into the back of us and then we got him low. Fun finish to the Southern 500.”

What does this mean for you in the Playoffs?

“Now we get to go have fun these next two weeks. Just can’t thank Offerpad, FedEx and SportClips, the Jordan Brand, Domino’s, Shady Ray Sunglasses – it was a bright, sunny day today. Can’t thank this whole team enough. They deserve a win. We’ve been so strong all year. They deserve to be in victory lane today.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

Did you think it was possible to have as much speed in your car as you did tonight?

“Oh yeah, all night. We were so good on long runs. Early in the race, we weren’t getting them so we were losing track position. Had the issue of the loose wheel under green and we were in pretty good position right there. Fought all the way back and got up to the front and the dumb driver sped on pit road. One of those days. Thanks to everybody at Bass Pro, TRD, Toyota and everybody back at the shop at JGR – all the men and women there working hard to make our cars good. Congrats to the 11 (Denny Hamlin), been a long time coming for them this year. Overall, really strong race car and heck of a battle. Sometimes you can’t do all the little things right. Certainly today we didn’t, but we battled through it and had a good finish.”

What did you think of the move Kyle Larson tried on the final lap?

“I was asking him if it was Nintendo or Playstation. He (Kyle Larson) definitely – the wall glue got him. He got stuck on the wall. He got close. It was a valient effort.”

How do you feel about the strength of the 19 team after tonight?

“We’ve been battling through a lot of crap all summer long with crashes, damage and a lot of stuff, but we always fight back and get the best finish we possibly can. It’s nothing new for us, we just had to do it tonight and it was a big night with the Playoffs and it turned out to be worth the fight for sure.”

How do you sum up tonight for you and your race team?

“It’s kind of been typical for how we’ve been doing things the last three or four months. Just really strong race car again, the Bass Pro Toyota was really fast. Made good adjustments all day and as soon as it started cooling off, the car started coming to me and we were really good on long runs. We needed long runs and when we would get them, we would go forward. That was good. Then just the loose wheel mistake and fought through that and then I sped on pit road when we had the lead. I feel like we had a shot at the win for sure there, we were really fast that last run. We came from a long way back and passed a lot of cars to get to fourth. Never know how it might have worked out. All in all, just really proud of the effort and of the fight. The never give up attitude that we have as a team. I think this summer, we’ve been through a lot together and it’s toughened our edges up a little bit I think. We kind of went through that like it wasn’t anything. A little bit of frustration on the radio and then it was gone and time to go forward and dig hard. Proud of that and hopefully we can build off it.”

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 SportClips Haircuts Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 20th

What were the positives from tonight’s race?

“The positives were, once again like the last five or six weeks, we’ve been really competitive. Probably longer than that. I felt like our SportClips Camry was capable of running inside the top-two or three. We ran 20th. It seems like that’s happened a lot and obviously we can’t really have that in the Playoffs. It’s a bummer because today was a great opportunity to try to capitalize on other people’s misfortune and we didn’t. Looking at the Playoff grid, we’re still ahead, but we could be way ahead.”

Is Darlington just a difficult track?

“This place is tough for sure and it’s really easy to make a mistake so yeah, that’s part of it. I do want to give a big thank you to SportClips for allowing me to represent you guys. Hopefully we can do more in the future.”

How do you feel heading into Richmond next week?

“This whole round really, Darlington, Richmond, Bristol are three great race tracks for us and this organization. I’m really happy about that. Just super disappointed that we couldn’t capitalize on today with the speed that we had.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit ToyotaNewsroom.com

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
COOK OUT SOUTHERN 500
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 5, 2021

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE
3rd ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE
6th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
10th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE
12th RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 KROGER/HERSHEY’S S’MORES CAMARO ZL1 1LE

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2nd Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
3rd Ross Chastain (Chevrolet)
4th Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)
5th Kevin Harvick (Ford)

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Richmond Raceway for the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders on Saturday, September 11, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 2nd
YOU USED THE VIDEO GAME MOVE DOWN IN 3 AND 4; IT ALMOST WORKED.
“Yeah. Yeah. I kind of — we got to the white, and I was like, well, I haven’t been able to gain on him now, I’m going to try something. Honestly got to his bumper too quick. I was hoping he was going to run that diamond to kind of be safe and I could skirt to his outside, but gave everything I had. “I didn’t want to wreck him, I just wanted to try to get to his outside there, but he did a great job not really making any mistakes during the last run, and I was having to push really hard in second to try and just stay with him.

“Was hoping we’d catch some sort of traffic, but we never really did. Our HendrickCars.com Chevy was really good out front, just in traffic I would get stuck. Like in traffic I just got stuck really bad, and then there at the end losing control of the race really hurt us, but all-in-all a great day, good points day. Pit crew did great. Cliff (Daniels) made some good changes in the car, so try again next week.”

WE KNOW IT’S BEEN A GREAT YEAR FOR YOU, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO START OFF THE PLAYOFFS THIS WAY? YOU’VE LED THE MOST LAPS, YOU’RE RIGHT IN CONTENTION AT THE END. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THIS TEAM GOING THROUGH THESE PLAYOFFS TO MAKE A CHAMPIONSHIP RUN TO HAVE A GREAT START?
“Yeah it’s good to get a good start. I think everybody’s, you know, nervous getting ready for the final 10 and just the anticipation of how it’s going to go. So good to get a good first week in and build some momentum and some confidence within the team, so hopefully go to Richmond, be a little bit better than we were earlier in the year.”

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rd
THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHERN 500 HERE TONIGHT THERE WAS ALL THE PLAYOFF CARS AND THEN THERE WAS ROSS CHASTAIN IN CONTENTION FOR THE WIN. WHAT A GREAT NIGHT FOR YOU GUYS. WHAT MORE DID YOU NEED TO MAYBE CHALLENGE THAT NO. 11 AND NO. 5?
“A better driver. I can go fast. I just can’t quite race with them, and it starts with my restarts. I’ve got some work to do there, so I gave up the outside to take the bottom to be safe and then Kyle rolls around me.
Was able to make one last charge there at him at the end, but yeah, I just need to clean up a few things. This McDonald’s car, I think it was the fastest car here tonight, so it’s humbling to come with this CGR group these final 10 races here, a place where my career kind of took a totally different trajectory three years ago, and to have people like Clover and the Moose (Fraternity) and Advent Health on board supporting me and still letting me race three years later, it means the world. I’ve just got to clean up some more, though.”

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE FOR YOU? I REMEMBER BACK IN 2018 WHEN YOU HAD THAT AMAZING RUN FOR GANASSI HERE AT DARLINGTON. YOU’VE BEEN SO CLOSE TO WINNING HERE TWICE IN THE XFINITY SERIES. TALK ABOUT THIS PLACE, HOW GOOD IT IS FOR YOU AND ALSO THE COMPETITION LEVEL OF NOW DOING THIS ON THE CUP SIDE.
“Yeah, it’s hard to say. I feel like I’ve put in work, but I always feel behind, so I never feel fully prepared. So I’m not going to say that. I’m going to say it’s probably a lot of hot Saturday nights in south Florida racing at 417 Speedway. We don’t run up against the fence there, but it’s as sideways as we are here at Darlington, and I didn’t run up against the fence at all tonight. A lot of Florida Saturday night short tracks and a lot of older, wiser guys and other racers down there that taught me a lot. To come back here now three years later for the people that supported me then and put me in that car, we’re still here and we’re still fighting, and it means the world.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 6th
“That’s what was most impressive was the speed. It was fun to lead laps and be up front. It just seemed like we were juggling a ball of yarn and it was somewhat unraveling the whole race; whether it was the lane choice or a pit stop. And then handling, we were a little bit loose there and a little bit tight there. That last run, everything was back where we needed it; but I threw away all the track position with a couple of fender rubs.”

“We gave away a few points. I would have loved to have had a shot at trying to win it. We might have ended up wrecked, but we gave away three or four points tonight. Not all that bad. It’s a great way to start the Playoffs with this kind of speed in the No. 1 Monster Energy Chevy. That’s what I’m really proud about with my guys.

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 10th
“I’m proud of everyone on the Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevy team tonight. To get a top-10 after all of the challenges we faced is a really good night and shows how hard this team works. We started off the race a little too free in the Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet, so we pitted during the first caution for adjustments, which really helped our handling issues. Even though we started from the rear, we were able to race our way into the top-10 before finishing the stage 13th. We lost a little something in Stage 2 after the 18 came down on us. We got some fender damage that affected our handling the rest of the night. We also had a bad vibration in the second half of the stage and it took all we had to stay on the lead lap to finish out the stage. It was great get a top-10 after a rough few weeks. I just wish we could have seen what we could have done without that body damage because the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevy was fast tonight.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 GOOD SAM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 13th
HOW WAS YOUR RUN?
“I feel like we were probably a top 20 car most of the day. We struggled. We made some adjustments to get it back and I thought we did a pretty good job keeping up with the race track and everything. But we just have to keep working. It was a good education day, but we didn’t have a lot of speed. So, we have to keep working to make more speed.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 18th
YOU STARTED THIS RACING LOOKING LIKE A TOP 5 CAR, BUT IT SORT OF WENT AWAY FROM YOU. WHERE DID IT START TO GO AWAY?
“That’s a great question. I have no idea. I think we would have been able to not fall as far as we did in our Childress Vineyards Chevrolet, but I have no idea. It’s happened to me a few times here. I try to bring back a different approach every time, but I keep missing.”

YOU ARE UP AGAINST THE BEST OF THE BEST HERE. YOU PRIDE YOURSELF IS BEING ONE OF THOSE TOP 16, BUT WHAT IS IT LIKE TRYING TO FIND THAT LAST LITTLE BIT IN THE PLAYOFFS?
“Well, it’s a head-scratcher because we were running there towards the end of the day. I mean we haven’t been running back there all year. It’s definitely frustrating. I know everyone really pushes when the Playoffs get here to be performing at our best level. We did the same but just weren’t even close.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 26th
“I got into the wall into turn one. I was just really loose. The 8 (Tyler Reddick) got to us. I don’t know if he carried me off into the corner or if I just got loose. Either way, it’s just part of it. I just got loose and ended up in the wall right rear first and had damage. And then, that’s what eventually cut the tire to end up in the wall in turn three.”

THE NEXT RACE IS RICHMOND AND YOU WON THERE. IS THAT COMFORT OR CAN YOU NOT LOOK AT IT THAT WAY?
“I don’t think we have any comfort going forward the next two weeks. I think we’re going to places that we know we can be strong at. But this is a place where we felt like we should have been pretty strong at and our night was over five laps into the race. We didn’t do a good job capitalizing on it, even from that point on. We left points on the table. My guys did a good job of fixing the car enough to drive it the rest of the night. We just need to be a lot better than we were tonight.”

DO YOU FIND ANY SOLACE IN THE FACT THAT A LOT OF PLAYOFF DRIVERS HAD ISSUES TONIGHT THAT ARE GOING TO FINISH DOWN IN THE STANDINGS? IT COULD HAVE BEEN A MUCH WORSE POINTS NIGHT FOR YOU THAN WHAT IT MAY HAVE BEEN.
“Yeah, it helps I guess. It makes the points picture look better, but I don’t necessarily feel any better about anything because of it. Pretty frustrated with myself to grab the wall that early, but that’s Darlington and that’s Playoff racing.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA/CHILDREN’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 326; Finished 31st
WHAT A TOUGH WAY TO END THE NIGHT. IT MAYBE WASN’T THE BEST NIGHT THAT YOU WANTED. HOW QUICKLY DID YOU KNOW THE TIRE WAS GOING DOWN?
“Yeah, just as soon as I was turning the corner. Just really appreciate NAPA for letting us run this special scheme and making it a special weekend for some of these kids from Children’s (Healthcare of Atlanta).”
“On my end, just made way too many mistakes. That’s what you deserve when you make that many mistakes. Onward.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 200; Finished 34th
FIRST OF ALL, ARE YOU OKAY? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HAPPENED?
‘Yeah, I’m fine. That was a big hit. It looked like on that pit stop, it looked like we dropped the jack and the left front was still finishing up. I took off and everything felt okay. I went to pass the No. 00 (Quin Houff) or somebody down the front stretch; and was just about to turn into (Turn) 1 and the left front went down. There was nothing we could do. The guys did an awesome job to fix it. We were running like Top-12, I think, even with all the (earlier) right rear damage and it’s just terrible. I don’t know, man. That sucks.”

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 — Cookout Southern 500
Darlington Raceway | Sunday, September 5, 2021

FORD FINISHING RESULTS
5th — Kevin Harvick
7th — Brad Keselowski
8th — Joey Logano
9th — Chris Buescher
11th — Cole Custer
14th — Ryan Newman
16th — Aric Almirola
19th — Chase Briscoe
22nd — Ryan Blaney
23rd — Matt DiBenedetto
24th — Anthony Alfredo
27th — B.J. McLeod
28th — Josh Bilicki
37th — Michael McDowell

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Fan Design Ford Mustang — A CHAOTIC RACE FOR MANY. HOW WAS YOURS? “It was the same. We finished on a flat tire. We had to pit for a loose wheel or a tire coming apart or something and got a lap down, and then got the lucky dog and just a lot going on. That’s pretty typical of this race though. I just want to thank everybody on our Busch Light Ford Mustang. Our guys have done a great job. We led a bunch of laps early and had a fast race car and were able to capitalize on a good day.”

IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WORKED HARD ALL NIGHT. “Yeah, we worked hard. Our guys did a good job on pit road fixing the car, a flat tire at the end. I finished on a flat tire. I banged it into the wall a couple times getting a flat tire, but everybody just kept scraping and battling and doing everything that they needed to do to finish the race and we had a decently fast Busch Light Ford Mustang and were able to drive back hrough there and keep ourselves up front.”

WHICH TIRE WAS FLAT? “The right-rear tire is flat, so luckily we had a good enough lead. I hit the wall and the fender got into the tire, so the last two laps the tire was flat, so we had a good enough lead that it worked out.”

WHAT KIND OF A START IS THIS FOR YOU GUYS? “I think it’s a good start. I think just a little bit of balance here and there to get ourselves to compete for the win, but I think as you look at the overall speed it was fairly good.”

WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE TIRE? “They don’t think the wheel was loose, but, either way it was vibrating so bad I was pitting. The what that it all timed out we were able to ge the lucky dog. Our car was fast enough to get back up there. We struggled a lot in traffic. We just couldn’t make the moves like we needed to in traffic. We had speed if we had clean air, but it just took us so long to get through traffic. Everybody did a good job battling through everything that happened tonight. We finished the last two laps on a flat right-rear tire, so that was a way to cap off the night.”

DID YOU FEEL YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN A LITTLE MORE? “You feel like you could always get more, but we could have been wrecked too, so I think we feel pretty good about it.”

BESIDE THE WHEEL WAS IT A CLEAN RACE? “It wasn’t super clean. We ran the last two laps on a flat right-rear tire, so there was just a lot of things here and there, but relatively clean compared to everybody else. This is just always one of those races that has a lot of stuff happen and you have to keep yourself rolling and keep your car clean and that’s what we did tonight. We had a few little issues, but we worked through them and were able to have a fast enough car that we could run top five and the rest of it, for us to run first or second we would need to be first or second like we were earlier in clean air. When we had the clean air we drove away, so it’s just kind of the way it is everywhere.”

HOW MUCH DOES ALL THE CHAOS REGISTER INSIDE THE CAR? “That really shouldn’t surprise anybody. I mean, we’ve done this for a long time, so if anybody is surprised they’re very very new, and Darlington in general is just one of those places that creates chaos in itself. There are a lot of places that you can make a mistake and it’s the first race of the playoffs and everybody always loses their mind in the first race of the playoffs. It happens every year. If it’s not the first race, it’ll be one of the first three, or four, five in six, or seven, eight and nine. At some point they all lose their mind.”

HOW DID YOU KEEP IT TOGETHER TONIGHT? “I’ve been here a whole bunch of times. I’ve been to Darlington a whole bunch of times. You race the racetrack and it’s just what you do. Just because it’s the first race of the playoffs you can’t force the issue here. You just take what you get and luckily tonight we had a good enough car to keep us up front.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT RICHMOND? “We ran well there and Aric ran better, so I think we definitely look at what the 10 did and what we did and try to marry those two things together and be better, so I’m looking forward to Richmond. We ran well there.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang — “It was just a solid 500-mile race and ended up with a strong finish and something to hang your hat on.”

WHAT DID YOU SEE TONIGHT THAT GIVES YOU POSITIVE VIBES ABOUT THE 2 CAR? “We want to be faster, but when we’re not as fast as we want to be we can finish off races and that’s important.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT RICHMOND? “I feel really good about Richmond. I think we’ll be really fast there. I think that’s been a strong suit for us at that type of track and going there with real high hopes that we’ll win the race.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK WITH A LOT OF THE PLAYOFF GUYS HAVING ISSUES? “There was a lot of chaos. Every time there was chaos I was thinking we just need to not dig ourselves a hole and take advantage of it.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang — “I felt like we were probably about a fourth-place car. That’s about right where we were running before the caution came out and we outsmarted ourselves a little bit with the adjustment at the end. I was just too tight the last run and plowing actually. I was nervous the right-front was gonna come apart as tight as we were, so I lost three or four spots there at the end unfortunately to that, and then those guys that pitted and put tires on was worth a little bit as well, but we only had one set left so you really couldn’t risk putting that set on then and run 15 laps and not have another set in the pits. Overall, we did what we had to do at the start of the playoffs. A lot of guys self-destructed and we were able to maximize our day and get every point, so we got what we got and we’ll move on.”

DID YOU FEEL YOU COULD KIND OF SWING FOR THE FENCE ON THAT LAST ADJUSTMENT CONSIDERING WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER GUYS IN THE PLAYOFFS? “No, we didn’t swing for the fence going for something big. We were trying to fine-tune and just got a little bit off.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang — “We had an OK night. I thought we were a top 10 car. We didn’t have what we needed to go up there and race up front, but I thought we had a decent car and we got behind on track position and bad restart and just got behind, and then our pit strategy we were hoping it would go green to the end. We kept pitting early to cycle on new tires and we got caught with that caution when the 12 spun and we got trapped a lap down there. It was unfortunate. I don’t know exactly where we finished, but we certainly finished worse than what we should have, but we survived and it seemed like tonight was definitely a lot of attrition from the playoff guys. We’re still in it. We didn’t take ourselves out.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang — “It’s a shame. I thought we were pretty decent. I thought we could have ran top seven today, which would have been a great day, but we got some stage points though and didn’t wreck the race car, so that’s good. I appreciate the Menards and Richmond Ford. We move onto Richmond. It was not a great night, but it could have been a lot worse.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT RICHMOND? “I thought in the spring we were really good there. We were right up front and just kind of got caught behind on a pit sequence one time, but, overall, I thought we improved a lot there, so I’m looking forward to getting there next week and seeing what we can do.”

IT SEEMED NOBODY WAS IMMUNE FROM ISSUES TONIGHT, INCLUDING YOURSELF. “At least our car is in one piece, so that’s good. After that problem you usually bring it back on a wrecker just like in Nashville, so luckily we got a car in one piece. A lot of other teams had their issues, so, overall, not a bad night. I wish we could have finished it off where we should have and been in the top 10 easily and got 10 or 15 more points, but we can’t complain too much.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang — WHAT HAPPENED? “I’m not really sure. The 43 kind of got everybody jammed up. I think he started on the front there without tires, which is a tough spot to be in and I just went three-wide underneath him and just got into the patch with my left sides just a little bit low. I got loose enough into the wall and that was about it. I’ll have to see the replay, but just heartbreaking for everybody on this Front Row team. We had high hopes coming into the playoffs and this is not how we wanted to start it.”

Austin Dillon And The No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Team Overcome Challenges to Earn Solid Top-10 Finish at Darlington Raceway

Finish: 10th
Start: 21st
Points: 17th

“I’m proud of everyone on the Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevy team tonight. To get a top-10 after all of the challenges we faced is a really good night and shows how hard this team works. We started off the race a little too free in the Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet, so we pitted during the first caution for adjustments, which really helped our handling issues. Even though we started from the rear, we were able to race our way into the top-10 before finishing the stage 13th. We lost a little something in Stage 2 after the 18 came down on us. We got some fender damage that affected our handling the rest of the night. We also had a bad vibration in the second half of the stage and it took all we had to stay on the lead lap. It was great get a top-10 after a rough few weeks. I just wish we could have seen what we could have done without that body damage because the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevy was fast tonight.”

-Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick And The No. 8 Childress Vineyards Team Still In Solid Contention In The NASCAR Playoffs With Top-20 Finish at Darlington Raceway

Finish: 18th
Start: 7th
Points: 12th

“Our Childress Vineyards Chevrolet was pretty good at the start of the race, and it was great to battle competitively in the top-10 during much of the early half of the race. I could see the other Playoff drivers having problems around me and I was hoping it was going to push us over the edge to break through and get going in the right direction. Unfortunately, two different strategies came into play during the final stage and ours was not the strategy that prevailed. Once we lost our track position it was a downhill slide. Our Camaro was tight and loose in the same corner and I wasn’t sure how to help my team fix it. By the end of the race, handling was significantly better but we were trapped a lap down and didn’t get a timely caution to return to the lead lap. This Richard Childress Racing team is strong and we proved that by making the Playoffs. We will go to Richmond and Bristol these next two weeks and do what is needed to advance.”

-Tyler Reddick

Almirola Finishes 16th at Darlington
Smithfield Ford Driver’s Day Marred by Untimely Caution

Date: Sept. 5, 2021
Event: Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 27 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway(1.366-mile oval)
Format: 367 laps, broken into three stages (115 laps/115 laps/137 laps)
Start/Finish: 8th / 16th (Running, completed 366 of 367 laps)
Point Standing: 11th (2,029 points, 3 points ahead of top-12 cutoff)
Race Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-115):

● Aric Almirola started eighth and finished eighth, earning three bonus points.
● Almirola held his Smithfield Ford inside the top-10 before the competition caution waved.
● The Smithfield Ford driver pitted during the caution for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments.
● Almirola restarted eight after the caution and was scored ninth before another caution was called for a spin by playoff contender Michael McDowell just a few laps later.
● Another caution was called on lap 48. Almirola pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and adjustments to come off pit road in eighth.
● Almirola pitted under green for four fresh tires, fuel and more adjustments on lap 81.
● Crew chief Mike Bugarewicz radioed to Almirola that he was the fastest car on the track with 20 laps to go in the stage.
● Almirola held his position to the end of the stage, and then pitted for four tires, fuel and chassis adjustments.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 116-230):

● Almirola started ninth and finished 18th.
● The caution was called on lap 126 for a spin by the No. 18 car.
● On lap 152 as he ran in 16th, Almirola radioed to Bugarewicz: “I’ve just lost everything. Everything is worse.”
● Almirola pitted under green on lap 157 for four fresh tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments.
● A debris caution was called on lap 164. Almirola and multiple playoff drivers were forced to wave around to rejoin the lead lap.
● Almirola restarted 18th, drove to 15th, then pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and adjustments on lap 196.
● The caution was called again for a cut tire by the No. 24 car with Almirola in 12th.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 231-367):

● Almirola started 13th and finished 16th.
● Almirola raced to 11th on the restart and advanced to the top-10 on lap 255.
● While attempting to pass multiple cars, Almirola slid his Smithfield Ford into the wall, causing minimal damage. He lost one spot to the No. 19 car but passed the No. 8 car.
● The caution came out on lap 319 for a spin by the No. 12 car with Almirola in the 13th position.
● The No. 10 Smithfield driver pitted during the caution period for four fresh tires, fuel and adjustments, putting him one lap down.
● Almirola was forced to check up when the No. 17 car got loose coming off the turn. He escaped the incident with minimal damage to his No. 10, and the caution was called for a spin by the No. 9 shortly after.
● Almirola raced his was back to the Lucky Dog position, but the caution did not come out for the remainder of the race, leaving Almirola one lap down.

Notes:

● Denny Hamlin won the Cook Out Southern 500 to score his 45th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his fourth at Darlington. His margin over second-place Kyle Larson was .212 of a second.
● There were 11 caution periods for a total of 52 laps.
● Only 15 of the 37 drivers in the Cook Out Southern 500 finished on the lead lap.

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“We had a good car today, and we had good speed. We had a great day and our pit crew was on fire until the caution came out late in the race and put us a lap down. The strategy just didn’t play out for us there, but that’s how it goes. We controlled as much as we could control and showed we’re serious contenders.”

Playoff Standings (with two races to go before Round of 12):

1. Denny Hamlin (2,072 points) 1 win
2. Kyle Larson (2,106 points) +80 points
3. Martin Truex Jr. (2,062 points) +36 points
4. Kurt Busch (2,062 points) +26 points
5. Ryan Blaney (2,048 points) +22 points
6. Joey Logano (2,047 points) +21 points
7. Kevin Harvick (2,046 points) +20 points
8. Brad Keselowski (2,038 points) +12 points
9. Christopher Bell (2,031 points) +6 points
10. Chase Elliott (2,030 points) +4 points
11. Aric Almirola (2,029 points) +3 points
12. Alex Bowman (2,026 points) +0 points
13. Tyler Reddick (2,026 points) -0 points
14. Kyle Busch (2,024 points) -2 points
15. William Byron (2,017 points) -9 points
16. Michael McDowell (2,006 points) -20 points

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders on Saturday, Sept. 11, at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The second race of the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.