TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1
Finished: 1st
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE FLAMES YOU LEFT HERE ON YOUR BURNOUT.
“Oh yeah, it was fun for sure. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with a long front straightaway like this, but just super thankful for this team. Rudy, all the guys on this race team – it’s pretty amazing what we have been able to do the last couple of years, but we just have to keep working hard and keep it going. Nothing is guaranteed in this sport, and we just have to keep it going.”
WHAT WAS THAT LAST RUN LIKE FOR YOU WHEN YOU KNEW GUYS WERE CHASING YOU AND ESPECIALLY WITH CHRISTOPHER BELL CLOSING IN?
“Yeah, he was really fast at the end. The Toyotas had the long run speed kind of all weekend, so for us, it was just trying to get a gap on the short run; manage our tires and just kind of keep our car in a good spot. I definitely gave up a lot of time the last five laps, so we still have work to do.”
WHEN YOU STARTED IN THIS SPORT, DID YOU THINK AT THIS POINT OF YOUR CAREER YOU WOULD ALREADY HAVE TWO ROAD COURSE WINS?
“No, honestly the road courses were probably the most difficult thing for us starting out and then we just continued to build on it. We had a lot of pole positions on road courses, but we weren’t able to close the deal. A lot of that was on me and knowing what I need in the car to push the whole race. It’s come a long way.”
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
Finished: 4th
YOU LOOK A LITTLE WORN OUT.. NO NATURAL CAUTIONS TODAY. HOW MUCH DID YOU HAVE TO MANAGE IN THE CAR?
“I wouldn’t say I am worn out; I am just bummed. Probably just got stuck out in traffic after our last pit stop. It was a bad spot that I had to run too hard on low air and beat the rear tires up. Kind of inched in on William (Byron) for a bit, but then the rear tires just went away. Yeah, definitely had to manage it some. Definitely some tire fall off here.
We had a good Ally Camaro, we just needed to hold on to rear grip longer. It’s been the same since we unloaded and we definitely made it better, but still kind of fighting the same thing. Blake and the guys called a good race. We had a good day, just sucks to come up a couple short again.”
AJ Allmendinger, No. 13 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1
Finished: 6th
“It was a really solid day for the No. 16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevy team. We started 14th and got up into the top six or seven. Track position is so critical. On one of the pit stops, we got hung up there and lost about five or six spots, and that kind of put us to the next group of cars. We were able to fight back through that. Just really proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing. Of course you always want to win, but it went about as good as it could.”
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1
Finished: 7th
“It was an uneventful day for the No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevy team. We flipped each stage and that kept us up front. When we had the lead, it was the same as all day; just too loose and couldn’t hold William (Byron) off. He was obviously really strong. We made a swing at a big adjustment there at the end on that final green-flag stop and it went the wrong way. It definitely hurt our car. We dropped back a long ways from where we were, but I’m proud of the effort. Proud of the rebound in speed for me and this No. 1 car. My teammates have been really strong at road courses. I’ve been trying for the better part of a year and a half to improve on road courses, and this is a small step in the right direction.”
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL1
Finished: 26th
“The No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevy team obviously didn’t get the finish that we wanted at COTA. We got fifth-place stage points, and then had to come from the rear. We got damage on the front-end, and we just never really recovered from that. We got spun and then had to save fuel that last run. We have to figure out what we could have done better so we could have gone hard that last run. We’ll just keep plugging along.”
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