TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFFROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE
4th KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 1LE
7th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
11th JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
12th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Erik Jones (Toyota)
2nd Austin Dillon (Chevrolet)
3rd Clint Bowyer (Ford)
4th Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
5th Ryan Newman (Ford)
The NASCAR Cup Series season officially kicks off next weekend at Daytona International Speedway with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 16 at 2:30 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFFROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 2nd
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A RACE LIKE THIS WITH THIS FEW CARS LEFT?
“Yeah, I actually have. One of my Xfinity wins here was very similar; there were about four cars left. It was me and Chase Elliott, and we beat him back to the line. It reminded me of that and I thought we were going to come home victorious. I started getting worried, we were starting to lose Chevy’s fast. There at the end, we probably should have made a better move to work with the 42 under the caution. There were two Fords, two Toyotas, and two Chevys I believe is how it was lining up to be. I got good help from the 14 on the start, I got where I wanted to be, and I blocked high. I kept working hard. I got back to second on the white flag and I was back to a decent position. But those guys just laid back enough and got such a big run on the backstretch. My spotter said ‘go high, go high’, and I was more focused out the front. I started to go high and Newman made a pretty good block on it. I just have to re-watch out and learn from it, and if you’re in that position again, what would I do different to defend off multiple cars. It’s hard because you can block and get turned really easy; I’ve been on both sides of that. We made it through. I’m proud of Chevrolet, Symbicort, Bass Pro, everyone that helps with this program. That was fun. I just wish Justin (Alexander) and I could have kept our record together. Every time we start a new race team together or get together, we’ve won. That’s the first time we haven’t. We won our first Xfinity, first Cup and this would have been back together for a second time doing it again. We were close.”
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THIS RACE FROM BEHIND THE WHEEL?
“Well, we had a strategy, but the strategy didn’t really work out for us. The caution came out, which was nice because we got to race. Once we got to race, it was a wreck-fest. I made some really good moves in missing wrecks. That was probably the proudest I am of that. The guys finally gave me a good brake pedal and I was able to make good moves there. Usually, at superspeedways, I’m begging for more brake and stopping power. I’m glad we had it today because I stopped and didn’t hit Jimmie Johnson, and people were just going left and right.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BACK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 4th
“It was a little crazy there, a lot of crashes. But I still had a shot to win with a beat-up car. It was cool to race for a win like that, but it just didn’t work out there for me.”
DO YOU ANTICIPATE WE’LL SEE SOMETHING LIKE THIS NEXT WEEK?
“People are always more cautious Thursday because you don’t want to crash your 500 car. The 500 is so much longer of a race and there’s points on the line. So, it should be a little tamer.
WHEN YOUR CREW CHIEF TELLS YOU TO JUST BRING BACK THE WHEEL, DOES THAT SET YOUR MENTALITY OUT THERE?
“It’s always kind of that way for this race here. There’s nothing on the line, other than the trophy. So, everyone is out there doing that.”
WHAT’S IT LIKE IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT WITH ALL THE CRAZINESS?
“It’s just wild. You’re trying to find a hole to not get caught up in any crashes.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined in crash on lap 79; Finished 11th
“They were all sideways and I thought for a minute I was going to get through. I was still on the gas and somebody clipped me in the right rear, and it was all over from there. I really didn’t see what happened. It was really impressive how the Fords and the Toyotas could use the bumpers to push cars. So, I assume at some point, there would be too much and have a crash. But I think we need to do a better job with our cars to receive those pushes. When I was up front and the second group caught the first group, there was so much energy in the group and they were able to slam draft like we could years ago. Our cars just weren’t ready for that; our setups weren’t right for that. We learned a lot. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the finish. But I learned a lot while I was out there.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined in crash on lap 74; Finished 12th
“We were just trying to have our fuel mileage right and it was just a gamble on the Chevy side to make sure all of us could make it together. We needed a couple of yellows and not get caught up in the yellows. But we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Everything just gets crazy at the end.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT SOME OF THE MOVES THAT WERE GOING ON OUT THERE?
“We’re all racing an analytics race now. It was all about fuel mileage, team work and manufacturers working together. That’s what we were directed to do and it’s just a matter of getting to the end. But we didn’t get to the end. The format needs to change. We need to have cash up for grabs or something every ten laps, and see who’s at the end to grab the most cash. All of us are just going to ride until we get to that point and that’s when everyone starts wrecking. We just need to figure out how we can make more winners in the same race instead of more wrecked cars.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA ‘COLOR OF THE YEAR’ CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined in crash on lap 74; Finished 14th
“I just kind of spun the tires. The guy in front of me was spinning the tires. It was just weird; you would never spin the tires that bad on a speedway car. Obviously, it went hard to kind of get accelerated. But I don’t know, I just have to look at it.”
WAS THERE SOMETHING ON THE TRACK POSSIBLY?
“They wrecked and then we ran through that area, but I don’t really know. It’s hard to say.”
DID YOU SEE ANY MOVES OUT OF THE ORDINARY?
“No, I mean you’re going to do what you can do. It’s hard to say what goes on. Just have to be aggressive.”
THIS IS YOUR FIRST CLASH. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT?
“Yeah, it was alright. It was just kind of waiting until you get to the end, but we didn’t get there.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined in crash on lap 74; Finished 15th
“Something happened and I checked-up and the guy behind me decided not to check-up. It just kind of killed the right front and at a certain point, it was just a clash. We worked on it just to get some reps, but didn’t want to kill ourselves to make it better. So, it’s unfortunate for our Valvoline Camaro. I think overall, we had a good day obviously with qualifying on the front row for the 500. But I’m bummed-out, man! I wanted to go back racing and I feel like we rode around and then we crashed.”
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE ON THE FRONT ROW FOR THE DAYTONA 500?
“Yeah, it’s really special. There is a little bit of anxiety that comes along with it, you know, for the Duel, and not wanting to tear your stuff up, but five years ago I came down here and missed the 500. Two years later, I was down here with Hendrick Motorsports on the pole, and every year since then we’ve been on the front row. It’s just a dream come true to be driving for Rick Hendrick and have Hendrick horsepower under the hoods. Man, our car was really fast again today it’s just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”