Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet Team Miss Out on Advancing to the Round of 12 with 28th-Place Finish in Bristol Motor Speedway Bass Pro Shops Night Race

Finish: 28th
Start: 23rd
Points: 14th

“We just couldn’t go as far as the rest of the field on tires tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway. Our setup just wasn’t conducive to that, and we didn’t process it fast enough. I just thought we had a flat tire and I was losing the right front. I didn’t know we were cording tires that fast, and it’s unfortunate because we were one of the first cars to really go through it so we didn’t have enough time to react. The guys on the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet team were trying so hard to get us back on the lead lap, but truthfully with our car we couldn’t go as long as we needed to, or as fast as we needed to. No matter how easy I went, it was just chewing tires. It was just an unfortunate night for the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet team. I just wish we would have had the ability to run as long as the other guys, because then I think we would have been okay. I tried a lot to save it, but it was just out of my hands. Disappointed that we did not transfer to the next round of the NASCAR Playoffs, but we still have a lot to race for the rest of the season.” -Austin Dillon

Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet Team Give it Their All Through Challenging Race at Bristol Motor Speedway

Finish: 16th
Start: 33nd
Points: 21st

“The No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet team battled the entire race tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway, but we came up short. We struggled in qualifying and got a lap down early, but we gave it our all to the end. We battled some front end issues, and briefly drove our way inside the top 10, as we worked strategically to manage our tires. We’re leaving Bristol with a 16th-place finish, and we’ll continue to chase the win next weekend in New Hampshire.” -Kyle Busch

Strong Run for Austin Hill and the No. 33 United Rentals Chevrolet Team at Bristol Motor Speedway

Finish: 25th
Start: 33rd
Points: N/A

“Really proud of our United Rentals Chevrolet team. We had a top-18 or 20 car if we didn’t lose the laps at the beginning of the race, but no one expected the tires to wear like they did. It caught us all by surprise. From that first run, it was just managing the situation the best we could. Everyone worked extremely hard this week and I’m glad we were able to leave with a solid run. This No. 33 group should be proud and we have one more crack at it in Talladega.” -Austin Hill

RICK WARE RACING
Bass Pro Shops Night Race
Date: Sept. 13, 2025
Event: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 29 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)

Race Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

RWR Finish:

● Cody Ware (Started 34th, Finished 29th / Running, completed 496 of 500 laps)

RWR Points:

● Cody Ware (36th with 202 points)

Race Notes:

● Christopher Bell won the Bass Pro Shops Night Race to score his 13th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fourth of the season and his first at Bristol. His margin over second-place Brad Keselowski was .343 of a second.

● There were 14 caution periods for a total of 137 laps.

● Only 13 of the 39 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● This was the last race in the Round of 16 of the NASCAR Playoffs. Bell, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick moved on to the Round of 12, while Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry did not advance. The cutoff race for the Round of 8 is the Oct. 5 Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval, and the cutoff race for the final, winner-take-all Championship 4 is the Oct. 26 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The NASCAR Cup Series season finale is Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway.

Sound Bites:

“The best way to describe the night was we had a fast car and we executed well but, unfortunately, all the uncontrollable aspects of the race kind of got away from us. Bummed we couldn’t walk away with a top-25, but the car was fast. Really proud of the guys. We’ll just keep digging and get ready for New Hampshire next week.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Arby’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Mobil 1 301 on Sunday, Sept. 21 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The fourth race in the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

No. 10 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Camaro ZL1

Start: 37th
Stage 1 Finish: 32nd
Stage 2 Finish: 31st
Finish: 27th

Ty Dillon and the No. 10 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet team started Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway from the 37th position. Unfortunately, Dillon was caught two laps down following a green-flag pit stop midway through the opening stage and despite having a solid car and being happy with the handling of his Chevy, Dillon was unable to catch the right break and finished the race in the 27th position.

No. 16 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Camaro ZL1

Start: 1st
Stage 1 Finish: 7th
Stage 2 Finish: 22nd
Finish:

With a lap time of 15.117 seconds, AJ Allmendinger earned the pole for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This marked Allmendinger’s fifth NASCAR Cup Series pole award, his first with Kaulig Racing and his first since 2015. From the top lane, Allmendinger took the lead where he controlled the field until he reported feeling a tire coming apart. After coming to pit road on lap 29, the team confirmed the right front on the No. 16 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet was cording. As the field began to have tire issues, Allmendinger regained track position and finished the opening stage in seventh place. In the second stage, Allmendinger battled a tight-handling Chevrolet and continued to fight tire wear, along side the rest of the field. The No. 16 was involved in a wreck on lap 383 resulting in a broken toe link. The team made repairs on pit road and returned to the track before ultimately coming to the garage. Allmendinger was relegated to a 36th place finish.
 
About Kaulig Racing

Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time, multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has earned 27 NXS wins, made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started, and won two regular-season championships. In 2021, the team competed in select NCS events, before expanding to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and adding a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. Since its first NCS start in 2021, the team has earned two wins. Kaulig Racing is currently fielding two full-time entries in the NCS and continues to field three full-time NXS entries. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.

Christopher Bell scores fourth win of the season, setting new career-high

BRISTOL, Tenn. (September 13, 2025) – Christopher Bell and his team made the right strategy call late and Bell drove through the field to score the win at Bristol Motor Speedway to clinch his spot in the Round of 12. It is Bell’s fourth points-paying victory of the season, which establishes a new career-best mark for the Oklahoma-native. Joe Gibbs Racing swept the Round of 16 with Bell, Chase Briscoe (Darlington) and Denny Hamlin (World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway). Joe Gibbs Racing also won every race they competed in this weekend with Brent Crews winning in ARCA on Thursday and Aric Almirola claiming the Xfinity Series win on Friday.

Toyota led 870 of 1,107 laps in the first round (78.5%) and now has the more drivers than any other OEM in the Round of 12 with Bell, Briscoe, Hamlin and 23XI Racing drivers Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. To start the round, Toyota has four drivers above the cutline with Hamlin up 26, Bell up 20, Briscoe up 10 and Wallace up 1 point. Reddick starts three below the cutline heading into New Hampshire.

Truck Series points leader and Toyota Development Driver Corey Heim impressed as he drove to a sixth-place, lead lap finish in just his seventh career NASCAR Cup Series start, while Ty Gibbs set a new career-best with 201 laps led.

Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race 29 of 36 – 266.5 miles, 500 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, CHRISTOPHER BELL
2nd, Brad Keselowski*
3rd, Zane Smith*
4th, Ryan Blaney*
5th, Joey Logano*
6th, COREY HEIM
9th, CHASE BRISCOE
10th, TY GIBBS
14th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
15th, TYLER REDDICK
18th, RILEY HERBST
20th, ERIK JONES
31st, DENNY HAMLIN
34th, BUBBA WALLACE
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 1st

Can you take us through that restart?

“Well, I’ll tell you what, I was nervous on the twos. I didn’t know if I wanted to be on the bottom or the top, and whenever Brad (Keselowski) picked the top, he didn’t really give me an option. I had to pick the bottom. All night long, I don’t know, old tires just really, really pushed up in the middle of the corners, so I was hoping that those guys on old tires would push up, and they did. They did, and I was able to get by or get underneath them. It wasn’t pretty there at the end, but we got her done.”

How did this team rally to be able to pull this off tonight?

“We just know that any week, any given week, it could be us, and it hadn’t been us for a long time. But Bristol, baby, tonight it’s us!”

COREY HEIM, No. 67 Robinhood Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

Finishing Position: 6th

Finished all 500 laps and scored a career-best finish. Can you tell us about your day?

“Yeah, a good result there. Once everyone kind of realized the situation with the tires, we adjusted accordingly and did all of the right things and kept ourselves in it all day. It was a claw to get back on the lead lap after we had a right front go down in stage one, but can’t thank these 23XI Racing guys enough – they stuck with it. Thank you to Toyota and Robinhood for all of the support that went into my five Cup races this year. All the ups and downs that we had – to end on a high note is pretty special. Hopefully we can take that and move forward.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 9th

Can you talk us through moving through the field on a wild night?

“It was definitely a wild night. We had a really good Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Toyota. Thought starting back there was going to be a huge determent – but honestly, how the race played out it was alright I guess. Crazy race. I didn’t have that one on the bingo card going into tonight. I don’t know if anyone did – truthfully. I don’t know. It was wild. I don’t know – I’m still processing what we just did. I wish that last caution wouldn’t have come out. It kind of trapped us – we had just came down pit road. That is the hard part on races like that – one untimely caution can change your whole race. Congrats to Christopher (Bell) – obviously pretty cool that JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) swept that first round, and hopefully we can do that in the next round.”

TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Pinnacle Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

Finishing Position: 15th

Moving on to the Round of 12, Tyler. How was your race?

“Just a night of what ifs – we were honestly pretty solid in our Pinnacle Financial Partners Toyota Camry. Stage one – when no one knew the tires we going to be what they were, we just burnt them up too much at the start, and just caught a lap down running 11th – and it seemed the rest of the night we had a hard time getting back on the lead lap, just kept missing the lucky dog. We did get it back at one point, but caution cycle got us again – so that was just how the night was.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
ROUND OF 16: ELIMINATION RACE
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT
SEPTEMBER 13, 2025

Four Team Chevy Drivers Advance to the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12

• Team Chevy’s Carson Hocevar and Alex Bowman survived a wild night under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway to lead Chevrolet to the checkered-flag in the top-10, with the pair driving their Chevrolet-powered machines to seventh- and eighth-place results, respectively. Four Team Chevy drivers will leave the high-banked half-mile with a ticket into the Round of 12 including Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, William Byron and Chase Elliott, and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain.
• Looking for a playoff upset triumph in Tennessee, AJ Allmendinger and the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet team paced the NASCAR Cup Series to the green-flag from the pole position for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The California native quickly claimed the top position – already approaching lap traffic before the opening stage hit Lap 20. But shortly thereafter, a handful of drivers began to endure early tire wear including Allmendinger, who was forced to give up his track position just shy of the 30-lap marker to bring his car to pit road for his first stop of the day. Tire wear quickly became the name of the game, with the majority of the field starting to follow suit with a trip to pit road. Kyle Larson was one of the few drivers to make it almost to the halfway point of Stage One – driving his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet up to the runner-up position before making the trip to pit road on Lap 59 for a fresh set of Goodyear tires. With the ultimate goal to make the opening stage a two-stop strategy, the first caution of the evening at Lap 80 forced the Cliff Daniels-led team to make a quick pivot for an alternate strategy.
• The unpredictable opening stage finally came to a close with Team Chevy playoff contender, William Byron, collecting third-place points to lead the Bowtie brigade to the first green-whited checkered flag. Entering the elimination race with an already strong points cushion, Larson was able to officially punch his ticket into the Round of 12 at the conclusion of Stage One.
• Nearing the halfway point of Stage Two, four Team Chevy drivers led the field in positions gained with Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar topping the list at +12 positions earned as the driver climbed up to the runner-up position. Hocevar ultimately inherited the lead for one lap before being called to pit road for a scheduled stop with 40 laps to go in the stage. As the field quickly cycled through under the green-flag pit cycle, it took the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team just a handful of laps to find their way back to the front of the pack. A late-stage caution set up a four-lap shoot-out to the end of the stage. With a strong stop by the No. 48 pit crew, Alex Bowman lined up third for the restart – holding onto the position to lead the manufacturer to the end of Stage Two.
• Sitting in a ‘win and advance’ position, the Blake Harris-led team opted for track position under the final stage break to give Bowman the second position for the restart. Struggling to take off on older tires, the No. 48 Chevrolet fell to the sixth position before yet another set of cautions shook-up the leaderboard. It was tumultuous final stage for a handful of playoff contenders including Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who was running in the 10th position before getting collected in an incident that ultimately ended the No. 9 Chevrolet team’s race early. With the assist from a 28-point cushion heading into the race, the 2020 champion was able to keep his title hopes alive to secure a position in the Round of 12.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER

7th – Carson Hocevar
8th – Alex Bowman

Chevrolet’s season statistics with 29 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:

Wins: 12
Poles: 11
Top-Fives: 54
Top 10s: 117
Stage Wins: 22

UP NEXT: The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12 will get underway at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with the Mobil 1 301 on Sunday, September 21, at 2 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Post-Race Driver Quotes:

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 19th

“We survived. For tonight in our No. 1 Moose Chevy, to run those couple laps at the beginning of the race, we were just ripping and rolling along. I saw the No. 16 tank and realized it was a tire wear race. We just had no idea. I think the whole field was caught off guard, but we’ve got to understand when that’s coming. We’ve got some data points now from this track to see what was the same.

Across the board, we just survived. We’re qualifying better, and we have to take that to New Hampshire and on. I’ll be leaning on my teammate, Shane van Gisbergen, for the Charlotte ROVAL. We just have to keep working. The coolest part about this is we’ll wake up Monday morning and go to work.”

Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 28th

“We just couldn’t go as far as the field on tires. Our setup just wasn’t conducive to that, and then no matter how easy I went, it was just chewing tires. It was just an unfortunate night for the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / Winchester Chevrolet team. I just wish we would have had the ability to run as long as the other guys and I think we would have been OK. I tried a lot to save it, but it was just out of my hands.”

Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 16th

“The No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet team battled the entire race tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway but we came up short. We struggled in qualifying and got a lap down early, but we gave it our all to the end. We battled some front end issues, and briefly drove our way inside the Top 10, as we worked strategically to manage our tires. We’re leaving Bristol with a 16th-place finish, and we’ll continue to chase the win next weekend in New Hampshire.”

Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in the final stage.

Finished: 38th

Elliott on the accident that ended his race early in the final stage.

“The No. 22 (Joey Logano) got position on me. I thought I was doing the smart thing just trying to get back to the bottom. I guess I thought I was clear back down in line. I visually saw the gap, so I just tried to get back in line and I got a huge shot from behind. I’m not sure if the No. 42 (John H. Nemechek) got pushed in there or he wasn’t expecting me to come back to the bottom or what the reasoning was, but nonetheless, it happened and it’s done.”

It looked like you had turned things around. You had restarted 10th on that last restart. How sketchy were the tires out there, and what did you learn over the course of the first part of the race?

“It was super sketchy. It was hard to know how hard to push. Our No. 9 NAPA Chevy was really good for a few laps, and then I felt like we struggled. We had spent the majority of the night in the back of the pack, just trying to get ourselves back in position and back on the lead lap. Once we did and we got back up towards the front, I just felt like we needed some balance adjustments there once we started running the pace of the leaders. We were working on it and making it better.”

How did the tire wear force you to change your style of driving?

“I don’t know that it forced you to change your style as much as it was just where you were running and how much pace you were pushing. We were in such a terrible position getting trapped a lap down early. We were probably a little late to realize that we needed to stop. But on the same token, if it goes green, it probably would have worked out OK for us. Being in the back of the pack versus being upfront was certainly a big difference in how I was driving the car. We were working on our balance and it was slowly getting better.”

William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Finished: 12th

Byron on the tire wear:

“We only had one run that I felt like was weird with the scuffs. Other than that, all the tires felt pretty normal. It was just so weird and hard to predict. It was just chaotic. From around 10th on back, there were just people running into each other, and then you had differences in tires. If they were four laps different, you just couldn’t make the corner and wrecks would happen everywhere.”

Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 25th

“Really proud of our United Rentals Chevrolet team. We had a top-18 or 20 car if we didn’t lose the laps at the beginning of the race, but no one expected the tires to wear like they did. It caught us all by surprise. From that first run, it was just managing the situation the best we could. Everyone worked extremely hard this week and I’m glad we were able to leave with a solid run. This No. 33 group should be proud and we have one more crack at it in Talladega.”

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Finished: 8th

What more did you need tonight?

“When we had some green-flag runs, I thought our No. 48 Ally Chevy was really good. It just cycled really poorly on restarts. I would drive off into turn one and just hope to make the corner. For whatever reason, it just wouldn’t take off, and then after five laps or so, it would go again. I just couldn’t figure it out if it was something I was doing. I felt like I was cleaning the tires off too much sometimes, so I don’t really know what we lacked there.

Just proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for the fight. We obviously had a shot at it if we would have gone green to the end. We had a good Ally Chevy compared to yesterday. We made some gains on it and still have some gains we need to make.”

Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Finished: 7th

Obviously, you’re disappointed after that one. What are the emotions?

“It sucks, but we had a shot to win. We can only control what we can control. We don’t have a crystal ball up there with the yellows. I am just proud of this No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet team. We got caught out really early, and we were able to execute there with tire saving, managing and just executing at a top caliber. If things go green there, we would have had a huge tire advantage, but it just didn’t work out. I’m just super proud of this group. There were a lot of times where I felt like we had a shot to win races, and we were 30th. Man, obviously we really wanted that one to work out there or at least see if it would have, especially for a new pit crew. This team really wants to win, and you can only ask for shots.”

Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 26th

“It was a pretty wild night. I got run over once by a guy that was pretty average, but the rest of it, I just needed to put myself in better spots and understand what was going on earlier in the race. I just made it hard on myself early.”

When you look at the difference between practice and the race, how much of a wrench did that throw into it?

“Guys have had experience with the tire wear before with last year’s race. I just didn’t understand how to manage the tire wear early enough. Our No. 88 Wendy’s Breakfast Baconator Chevrolet was decent at the end. We got the car handling better for what I needed. I was just too hard on the tires with the way I was driving the car.”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future. Learn more at GM.com.

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Bristol Night Race — Bristol Motor Speedway
Saturday, September 13, 2025

Ford Unofficial Finishing Results:

2nd – Brad Keselowski
3rd – Zane Smith
4th – Ryan Blaney
5th – Joey Logano
11th – Chris Buescher
21st – Ryan Preece
23rd – Noah Gragson
24th – Todd Gilliland
29th – Cody Ware
30th – Austin Cindric
33rd – Cole Custer
35th – Chad Finchum
39th – Josh Berry

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol/Travel Centers of America Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Jeremy Bullins, my crew chief, played the strategy really well. We did all the things we needed to do to be in position and was really happy with where we were for the last restart. The 77 didn’t get a good launch and then the 38 missed the corner and cleared him up and the bottom lane took off. It was a 50/50 shot and, like everything else, got the wrong one.”

YOU MADE CONTACT WITH BELL ON THE FINAL LAP. WERE YOU JUST TRYING TO RATTLE THE CAGE? “It’s Bristol, baby.”

ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Hat’s off to this whole group at FRM. It’s kind of a home race for our team owner, Bob Jenkins, and it was really cool to have a couple Fords up there battling for it. I could just taste it, but it was crazy there on old tires and a few things just didn’t quite play out.”

WHAT WAS YOUR THOUGHT ON THE FINAL RESTART? “I felt like I did a pretty good job on that restart, but you’re just so loose. I got so loose. I don’t know. You’re picking up marbles there on the back and pulling it up into the 77 and unfortunately that kind of lost our fighting chance.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I felt like we only got two long runs. Everybody kept wrecking. I liked the long runs because I thought our car was strong. We tried to adjust on it and kind of went back and found a good sweet spot, so our guys brought a really fast car tonight, no matter the conditions, whether if it was yesterday with kind of normal conditions or today with the higher wear and the low temps.”

IT TURNED SO QUICKLY WITH THE FIRE. HOW DID YOU GUYS RECOVER AND KEEP YOUR COOL? “Everyone kept their cool. A credit to all the guys from the top-down transferring information, being prepared, not getting any penalties for going over the wall. I mean, everything that went on there and still being able to come out only losing a handful of laps and be in the position we needed to – whenever we do great things we do it as a team and it’s cool to see.”

JOSH BERRY HAD TO GET OUT OF THE CAR BECAUSE OF THE SMOKE INSIDE. WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU? “When they told me to leave the pit stall I couldn’t see anything, so I was hoping there wasn’t anyone with fire extinguishers or anything else like that. It was pretty bad, but it’s gonna take me a lot to get out of the car.” HOW CHAOTIC WAS IT? “Which part? I mean, 40 laps into the race tires are shredding themselves apart, all of the restarts, all of the different tire strategies and then catching on fire there was obviously a huge challenge for us to overcome. I’m just proud of the team for being prepared for the scenario and not lose too many laps under green. It takes a team effort. It seems whenever we do great things as a team we do it together, so I’m proud of the effort and happy to have a Sunday at home and ready to reset.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE ON PIT ROAD? “I definitely felt good about the points we had gotten throughout the day and been able to run well, but you just never know if it’s gonna be over while you’re sitting there on pit road. I think we would have been able to transfer even if we would have stopped then.” YOU HAD A POINT OR TWO POINTS. “Whatever the scenario, I’m just proud of everyone being able to respond that well. It made all the difference in the world.”

DO YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT THE NEXT ROUND? “I feel like our team can do a lot of great things and there’s no reason why we can’t reset and give ‘em hell.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Sylvania Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU HAD TO WORK AT IT TONIGHT. “Everyone did. It was another one of those things where we thought we knew what the tire was gonna do and it did something completely different. I guess that’s happened multiple times and that makes for an exciting race and trying to figure it out on the fly and what to expect what to do and how to strategize and all that stuff. It was a wild night. I wish we wouldn’t have run so many laps under caution. The middle part of that race, two thirds of that race was kind of getting pretty boring, but we were really fast all night. It’s nice to win a stage and good to come home fourth. Overall, I’m really, really proud of the night and the effort. We’ll go on to Loudon next week. I’m looking forward to it.”

THOUGHTS ON THE TIRES. “The tires were interesting. No one expected that. I guess that’s what they want. It practices one way and then it races a completely different way, so we just tried to manage tires and ran a bunch of laps under caution and I thought we were pretty good all night and glad to get a good finish.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “On that long run towards the end we were able to drive up to the lead and those cars in front of us, they were tanking before me. They were getting to the cords before me and so I felt like we had a good shot because they all pitted as soon as they got the cords, and I felt like that was gonna give me a good chance to maybe win the race if it stayed green there because the 6 was falling off hard. He was seven or eight tenths off the last two laps. The 12 was starting to tank as well, so I was feeling like I was gonna get them back and then the caution came out and we were out of tires. We had to put old tires back on it, so, overall, a top five and two top fives in a row, which at this point of the season we need to be doing that kind of stuff. I’m proud of the team and proud of the execution. I felt like the win was right there in front of us, but just couldn’t quite grab it.”

IT TOOK SOME TIME TO GET ACCLIMATED TO THE TRACK AND TIRES. HOW CRAZY WAS IT? “We just fired off really, really bad. It wasn’t really getting acclimated to anything. I felt like even that long run to start, after we got the first green flag cycle, I was like, ‘Alright, we’re pretty good.’ We were just trapped a lap down, so once we got it back we just needed longer runs. There was short run after short run. I can’t believe as much as everyone wants to save tires how much they’re all wrecking each other. It’s kind of crazy.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Maybe seven or eight laps before we came down pit road we started getting some smoke in the cockpit, and then the longer I went the darker the smoke got and then, obviously, by the time we got on pit road it was completely black smoke. Something obviously caught on fire, so probably once again a car burned up for no reason.”

COULD YOU FEEL THE FLAMES? “I don’t think the fire made it inside the cockpit. It was just a lot of smoke. It seemed like the fire stayed in the fender well, which is a good thing, but it’s just disappointing again. The car was really good. That was gonna fall right into our wheelhouse, I feel like, to have a really good night. We were able to make it pretty long on that first set and we were gonna be set up in a really good spot. This one is gonna be hard to watch because that looks like it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

DO YOU FEEL YOUR PLAYOFFS ENDED BEFORE THEY BEGAN? “Yeah, pretty much, but it really hasn’t been because of performance. We’ve qualified well. We’ve had good cars. We just haven’t had the good finishes. That’s just part of it. I don’t think you could ever script three last-place finishes in the ways that we’ve gotten them over the last few weeks.”

COULD IT BE TIRE RUBBER CAUGHT UP IN THERE? “Yeah, I’m sure it’s tire rubber or cords or something that got wrapped around the rotor or brakes. Something caught on fire.” WERE YOU TRYING TO STAY IN AS LONG AS POSSIBLE? “Yeah, I think given our situation and how the race was playing out and how good we were, we were trying to ride it out. They mentioned trying to put the fire out on pit road and maybe keep going, but when I slowed down it got way worse and I was just trying to make it to the pit box so the guys could help me get out because I couldn’t see a thing.”

DID THE TIRE WEAR SURPRISE YOU? “It definitely caught me off guard. I was fully convinced it was gonna be hammer down, but I could tell probably 15 or 20 laps into the race we were running like 16-teens and you could see some people start coming back to you and you could tell. The pace during practice was 15.70s, 15.80s and it was hammer down the whole time, and when we’re in the 16s that quick, you could tell that’s going on. You could see the marbles start developing and, man, it’s crazy. It just has to do with the weather, I guess. It’s excessive, but I think it’s gonna be a hell of a race to watch, for sure.”

WERE YOU IN DANGER AT ALL WITH THE FIRE GOING? “It wasn’t hot. The flames didn’t make it inside. It wasn’t hot, it just got super smokey really fast would be the biggest thing. They checked me out in the care center and they said all of my levels look alright. We probably should have come a lap or two earlier and just ended it, but we were trying to fight to the very end.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW DISAPPOINTING THIS IS FOR YOU? IT’S CRAZY TO HAVE ALL OF THIS HAPPEN. “It’s hard to put into words, but I’d be way more disappointed if we just ran like crap for three weeks. We’ve been up front. We’ve qualified well. We had the issue at Darlington, bottoming out. Last week, we get clipped by the 9 and then tonight the car catches on fire. It’s nothing that we’re doing on our own. The cars have been fast and the performance has been good. If we just had a little bit of luck, I feel like we could be in a much better situation and, honestly, I think the way that was playing out we would have 100 percent had a chance to win tonight.”

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO END THIS SEASON NOW? Better than three last-place finishes. Len was saying before the race that he never thought they’d had two in a row and now we’ve got three in a row.”