Larson Takes the Win and Ticket to the Championship Four at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

    Team Chevy’s Kyle Larson claimed the first spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Four – driving his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to a sweep of the stage wins and leading a race-high 133 laps en route to the victory in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

·       The win in the Round of Eight opening race marked Larson’s fourth NASCAR Cup Series win of the season, and his 23rd career win in 328 starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

·       Hendrick Motorsports swept the NASCAR Cup Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this season, with Larson’s victory extending the Chevrolet organization’s win record to nine trips to victory lane at the track.

·       The victory marks Larson’s second time taking the win in the first race of the NASCAR Cup Series Round of Eight – last accomplished in his championship season (2021).

·       With 33 NASCAR Cup Series races complete, Chevrolet continues to led the series with 17 wins this season – more than its manufacturer competitors combined.

·       With his series-leading 19th top-10 finish this season, William Byron and the No. 24 Relay Payments Camaro ZL1 will enter the second race of the Round of Eight in the second position in the playoff standings.

·       With its 41 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer’s Championships, 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver’s Championships, and 850 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title of winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:

POS.   DRIVER

1st      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

3rd      Kyle Busch, No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro ZL1

5th      Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1

7th      William Byron, No. 24 Relay Payments Camaro ZL1
Race two of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of Eight will get underway at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 on Sunday, October 22, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:

Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 – Race Winner

Kyle, it was a flawless, no-mistake day for the 5 team. A heck of a battle with Christopher Bell at the end of the race. Did the 20 surprise you there? Did you know he was coming that quickly?

“I could see him coming in my mirror, for sure. Was hoping those lappers were going to give me the bottom. The 38 peeled off to the bottom. I knew I couldn’t follow him. I just didn’t want to go all the way to the top, leave the middle open.

Thankfully, Christopher (Bell) always races extremely clean. Could have got crazier than it did coming to the start/finish line. Thank you to him for racing with respect there.

What a job done by my team, too. Just a great race car. I almost gave it away there in one and two, getting sideways, hitting into the wall. Had to fight back there with our balance. They got it much closer there in the lead.

I was happy to pull away as much as we did. Was hoping that was going to be enough to maintain, which it was. I thought they weren’t going to be able to get as close as they did there at the end. Nerve-wracking.

Thanks to Chevrolet, HendrickCars.com, Valvoline, everybody involved in this deal. This is really cool to get to race in the championship in a few weeks. Glad we don’t need to stress in the last two races.”

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1

Finished: 5th

“It feels good to be competitive – just be able to drive by cars. We were just a couple of adjustments away and we got it there late in Stage Two. We drove from 12th to second, and from there, just both sides of the balance – too loose for our No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevy, and then too tight there at the end. If we nailed it, balance-wise, I think we had a shot. We had a failure of some sort with something in the driveline or in the gear box. My restarts were definitely down on power in second and third gear, not sure. Once I would get to fourth and fifth (gear), I’d be OK, but you had to get there and I was getting swallowed up on some of those restarts.

It was a heck of a fight. We had speed early and come back to finish fifth.”

Kyle Busch, No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro ZL1

Finished: 3rd

“It was a really good day, a solid day, for the No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Chevy team. Really appreciate Randall (Burnett, crew chief) and all the guys giving me a great piece when we unloaded here. We qualified up front and ran top-10 all day. Our weak spots are just restarts. I just get into bad spots and lose spots at times and can’t get my way forward, like a couple of other guys can do a better job at doing that. But overall, just really pleased with the day. We made adjustments all day long. We rallied forward all day and there at the end, we were really good.”

William Byron, No. 24 Relay Payments Camaro ZL1

Finished: 7th

“We definitely need to just work on our build and how we build loose, but our No. 24 Relay Payments Chevrolet was solid. The points are a lot tighter than we would want them to be, so we just have to have two good weeks, and hopefully go to Homestead (Miami Speedway) and have a little bit better long run speed. But overall, happy with our execution. We kind of made the most out of what we had. I think at the beginning of the race, we were hovering around sixth to eighth, and we were able to finish there. Wish we could have gotten a little more stage points, but we’ll take it.”

Carson Hocevar, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Camaro ZL1

Sidelined by damage sustained from contact with the wall following a tire failure.

Finished: 36th

Another tire goes down.. was it a hard hit?

“It really wasn’t that hard, at least from the inside, but maybe it looked hard. Honestly, I thought I could have kept going, if anything, but it was a little more killed than I thought. It was a tough day. For as fast as we were, we got up to 14th at the end of the stage. I probably should have known something was going on. It was vibrating a little bit, but just thought I picked up some rubber. It’s part of it. I’m looking forward to Martinsville (Speedway) with this No. 42 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Chevy team. Hopefully we’ll have a good run there. Both of our cars were fast, it’s just unfortunate.”

With all the struggles yesterday with tires, was there any concern that this would be an issue today?

“I mean there was a little bit. Just tough to come down pit road when you’re not 100 percent sure. I wish I just did, but it’s part of it.”

Did you have any indication before it happened?

“I wasn’t going forward. I kind of had a small vibration, but it was just a tough spot to come down pit road there and lose a lap or two. Wish maybe I would have taken the risk a little bit more, but our car was really fast and that’s all we can say.”

Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1

Finished: 28th

“We just blew a tire early and didn’t really have much after that for the No. 43 Allegiant Chevy. Not really sure what we had, but we just did some damage there with the blown tire and we were just off the pace after that. We tried to get it better, but just never really found anything. We’ll go to Homestead-Miami Speedway and hopefully put it together.”

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage Two.

Finished: 35th

Was the car getting tight, or was it a tire going down?

“I don’t really know one way or another for sure. We were really tight before that, so I want to say it was a slow leak on the tire or something two laps prior to that. And then all of a sudden, it swung a little loose, and when I entered the corner, I didn’t even have a chance to save it. I hate that for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and the whole No. 48 Ally team. We had a really fast Chevy Camaro and our teammates have been really fast, as well.

I don’t know.. I’m not really a guy that spins out by himself, but maybe it just got away from me. It’s hard to say without looking at the car yet. It’s a bummer. The steering was also broke, so I’m glad nobody hit me. I was trying to go straight down the front straightaway with a wrecked race car that didn’t want to go straight. I hate it for all the guys, but it’s the way it goes sometimes.”

 
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES:

STAGE ONE:

·       Team Chevy playoff driver Kyle Larson posted a top-two qualifying effort in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – leading the NASCAR Cup Series to the green-flag from a front-row starting position to start the Round of Eight.

·       Larson quickly made a pass for the lead on lap three, pulling away to a half-second lead over playoff contender Christopher Bell. Midway through the first run of Stage One, Larson reported to the No. 5 Chevrolet team that he was happy with the ride quality of his Camaro ZL1, but struggling with loose driving conditions. Continuing under green-flag conditions, Larson asked the team for a big adjustment as the field approached the race’s first round of pit stops.

·       Losing the lead on lap 29, Larson made just a handful of laps before crew chief Cliff Daniels called Larson to pit road to open the green-flag pit cycle – taking four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. As the field cycled through the first round of pit stops, Larson reclaimed the top position on lap 42.

·       Looking for feedback following the first round of adjustments, Larson reported that he was still on the loose side in clean air, but he was able to use his front tires more. Navigating his way through traffic, Larson built a 2.5-second lead over runner-up Bell when the caution came out on lap 65.

·       Assuring Larson that more adjusts were on the way to help combat the loose handling of his Camaro ZL1, Daniels opted to pit under the caution – calling for four tires, fuel and another round of adjustments. With Bell utilizing a two-tire pit strategy, Larson was the second car off pit road to take a front-row position for the restart with nine laps to go in the stage.

·       Taking the green-flag, it was a drag race with Bell for the lead, but Larson was able to capitalize on four fresh tires to reclaim the top position with eight laps to go in the stage. Larson drove away to a 0.525 second lead before taking the green-white checkered flag to end Stage One – recording his sixth stage win of the season.

·       Team Chevy Stage One: Top-10

1st      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

7th      Kyle Busch, No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro ZL1

9th      William Byron, No. 24 Relay Payments Camaro ZL1

STAGE TWO:

·       Under the stage break, Larson brought his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to pit road. Utilizing the stop for another round of adjustments to help improve the handling of his car, Larson was the seventh car off pit road for the start of Stage Two.

·       Less than 15 laps into the stage, Larson re-entered the top-five of the running order. As the leaders approached traffic, the Team Chevy driver had made his way into the third position – progressively closing the gap to the leaders when a caution came out on lap 111.

·       The majority of the field came to pit road for another round of pit stops under the caution. Pitting from the third position, the No. 5 Chevrolet team pit crew powered off a quick four-tire and fuel stop – picking up one position in the race off pit road to take a front-row position for the restart.

·       Choosing the top lane for the restart, Larson raced side-by-side with Brad Keselowski before settling into the second position nearing the halfway point of Stage Two. While closing in on the race leader, Larson made contact with the wall in turn two, but was reassured by Daniels that the car sustained minimal damage.

·       Under caution on lap 146, the field hit pit road for another round of pit stops. While all competitors in front of Larson utilized a two-tire strategy, Daniels opted to make a four-tire stop on the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 – taking the sixth position for the restart with 16 laps to go in the stage.

·       With a fresh set of tires, Larson was able to quickly maneuver to the front of the pack – ultimately taking the lead with 11 laps to go in the stage en route to a sweep of the stage wins by the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team. Larson lead Chevrolet to four top-10 finishes in Stage Two:

1st      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

2nd      Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1

6th      William Byron, No. 24 Relay Payments Camaro ZL1

7th      Kyle Busch, No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro ZL1

FINAL STAGE / POST-RACE NOTES:

·       Looking to tighten up Larson’s Camaro ZL1 following contact with the wall in Stage Two, Daniel’s called for four tires, fuel and a round of adjustments under the stage break. The No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 lined up in the third position as the green-flag waved for the final stage.

·       Larson settled into the third position in the opening laps of the final stage when another caution flew on lap 210. Under the caution period, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 pit crew executed a strong four-tire and fuel stop – gaining Larson two positions on pit road to put the team back to the top position with 52 laps to go in the race.

·       Larson continued to pace the field for the remainder of race – taking the checkered flag for the team’s fourth win of the season and a ticket into the Championship Four.

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