SHANE VAN GISBERGEN RAN STRONG AT COTA – TEAM CHEVY PHOTO
TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP 10 RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd – William Byron
4th – Chase Elliott
5th – Kyle Busch
6th – Shane van Gisbergen
9th – Alex Bowman
· In an all-out battle all the way to the checkered flag,
Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron led Chevrolet to the
checkered-flag at Circuit of The Americas – scoring a runner-up result
in his No. 24 Chevrolet.
· Byron led a strong contingency of Chevrolet drivers to the
finish of the NASCAR Cup Series’ third points-paying race of the
season, with drivers from three different Chevrolet organizations
earning top-10 results. Among those finishers includes Byron’s
Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Chase Elliott, who sustained damage in a
turn one, lap one, incident. Continuing to fight all race long, a
late-race pit strategy gave Elliott a fresh set of tires to drive his
way to a fourth-place finish.
· Trackhouse Racing’s Connor Zilisch’s NASCAR Cup Series
debut ended early after sustaining damage during an incident in the
final stage. The 18-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina, native had an
early setback after enduring damage on the opening lap, but later
rallied to a strong performance in Stage Two – driving his No. 87
Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet from outside the top-30 to the 14th
position.
· Showing speed across the Chevrolet camp right out of the gate
at Circuit of The Americas, drivers from five different Chevrolet
organizations collectively took 10 of the top-11 positions on the final
speed chart following Saturday’s two rounds of practice for NASCAR’s
top division. Reciprocating the speed in qualifying, Chevrolet drivers
took seven of the top-10 starting positions for today’s 95-lap event
– led by Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott (third) and Spire
Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar (fourth).
UP NEXT: THE 2025 NASCAR CUP SERIES SEASON CONTINUES AT PHOENIX RACEWAY WITH THE SHRINERS CHILDREN’S 500 ON SUNDAY, MARCH 9, AT 3:30 P.M. ET.
LIVE COVERAGE CAN BE FOUND ON FS1, MRN AND SIRIUSXM NASCAR RADIO CHANNEL 90.
Post-Race Driver Quotes:
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 5th
How much more could you have pushed your car?
“No, that was it on pushing the car. We had a really good No. 8 Rebel
Bourbon Chevy to be able to push that hard. I just wish that maybe we
had equal tires to the No. 20 (Christopher Bell). I don’t know if that
was all the difference. I know he was really fast and he had a good
racecar. I feel like that might have been able to help hold me on a
little bit better to him, but even that last yellow flag that we had, I
felt like the gap that I had to the field, I was far enough out front
that I could run the clean lines, the lines that I wanted, to preserve
the tires and take care of them as much as I could to see if he could
get there. But once we had that yellow, then it was just defensive mode.
You’re in complete and utter just beat the heck out of the tires at
that point, and I just didn’t have it over the No. 20. Hate it that
the contact that we made between two and three ruined our racecar too.
It bent the right-rear toe link and knocked everything out of it. I just
didn’t have anything there at the end to compete with those guys. That
doesn’t go for what our Chevy was today. Randall (Burnett, crew chief)
and the guys did a great job adjusting it through practice, qualifying
and into the race, and giving me a piece to go out there and do that
well, and to get this Rebel Chevrolet up front like we did. Appreciate
Zone, Cheddar’s, Lucas Oil, Chevrolet and everyone at RCR and ECR for
a really good piece this weekend. If we can keep getting top-fives and
running in the top-five, the wins will be right there.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 4th
You really had to work for it. How much more did you car give you there
at the end?
“Yeah, it was just a crazy day, really. I got run over, I felt like,
there in the first corner. I’m curious to see it. I still haven’t
seen it to know whether or not I did something wrong. I’m happy to own
it, if I did. I just felt like it was the first corner of the first lap,
and it’s just a bummer to get behind and then we had damage. Alan
(Gustafson, crew chief) and the guys did a great job fixing it and
getting it that close. We got behind on a restart there and just had to
play major catchup there. Alan made a great call there at the end to put
tires on it. We were rolling up through there really good at the end.
Obviously when you have a good car like that, I would have liked to have
been in the fight with those guys, but it was a great recovery from
where we were at during the end of the second stage.”
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 2nd
How close was that and what else did you need to do at the end there?
“Yeah, it was really close. I feel like the battle between he (Bell)
and (Kyle) Busch — I was just sitting there waiting for one of them to
bobble or slide their tires. Bell got by him and I felt like once he got
by him and clear, his car was super loose and it kind of gave me a
couple of shots at him. I just couldn’t ever get beside him. We have
always raced really well together, so I didn’t want to move him
blatantly. We were just sliding there a ton at the end. We came a long
way this weekend and I am really proud of that. We were pretty far off
to start, but got ourselves pretty raceable and in a position to win.
Just sucks to be so close. You are on the bumper of the guy coming to
the line and that sucks. A lot of races ahead and hopefully we can just
keep bringing this speed. It’s a good start to our road course
program. Still a little work to do, but thanks to Raptor, Chevrolet,
Axalta, Liberty University, and all of our partners. Been a good start
to the year so far.”
Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 11th
“Definitely an up and down day for us in our No. 71 Gainbridge
Chevrolet. We had decent speed. We got some track position early on and
we were trying to work a strategy, but unfortunately had a pit road
violation there that put us to the back. Track position is so important.
We tried rallying back. We fought hard all day and we had a pretty good
car. It’s something to build on. We were hoping to get back into the
top-10, but just ran out of laps there. Really proud of the effort.
Scored some points again and got some Stage points. Not ideal because we
are going for wins, but we are getting closer. We are just going to keep
grinding.”
Connor Zilisch, No. 87 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in the final stage.
Finished: 37th
Not the start of the race that you wanted or the end, but in the middle
stages, you had a lot of speed. What are your takeaways from today?
“Yeah, we had a really fast No. 87 Red Bull Chevrolet. I’ve had so
much fun preparing for this event. That second stage, driving from
outside the top-30 to 14th, was a lot of fun. I was passing a lot of
guys that I used to watch on TV growing up. Hopefully I’ll get the
chance to come back and do this again. I had an absolute blast driving
through the field, and I wish it didn’t end early.”
Zilisch on the accident that ended his Cup Series debut early in the
final stage:
“All I saw was a cloud of smoke, and by the time I saw him (Daniel
Suarez), it was way too late to do anything. I saw him spinning off to
the left and I thought he was going to keep going in that direction or
stay there. I guess he flipped back right and he started coming towards
me. Really unfortunate way to end my Cup Series debut. We were one of
the top-five fastest cars in the second stage there. I went from outside
the top-30 to 14th, and I felt really good about our Chevy. We made a
lot of gains from practice and qualifying. It’s just an unfortunate
way to end it.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in the final stage.
Finished: 36th
“I just hit the curb, hit the ground and then it spun me out. When
you have low air pressure, that’s very easy to do because the car is
lower to the ground. I wish I could say it was a big mistake, but it
wasn’t. It was just maybe a tire width too far to the left, and I hit
the curb and I spun out.”
Was this an encouraging run for your team today?
“It was a good day for the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet team.
We were a top-five, top-10 car, for sure. I thought we were going to be
a little bit better than that, but we have to continue to work and learn
from today.”