Here is what drivers were saying after Monday’s dominant performance by Martin Truex Jr.:
Martin Truex Jr. — Winner: “What we’ve been able to do here over the years is pretty remarkable, and to not win was really getting frustrating. James (Small) and I talked about it many times. We thought about it all weekend, talked about it with Christopher (Bell) before the race. He’s like, ‘Man, you’ve led more laps here than I’ve even raced in Cup.’ Just really an awesome job by everybody. What a race car we had today. Just proud of the whole team. Pit stops were flawless. Race car was unbelievable. We had some challenges at times throughout the race and it was a handful at times, but we just kept our heads down, kept digging.”
Joey Logano — Finished 2nd: “Dang it, the home track, there’s no place you want to win more than this, so it stings to not get the Shell-Pennzoil Ford into Victory Lane. But gosh, second just sucks sometimes, you know. It stings the most when you’re that close and feeling like you had a shot at it. Still a good day for us.”
Kyle Larson — Finished 3rd: “Overall, it was a great race for the No. 5 Valvoline Chevy team. Honestly, I’m not sure how much work we had to do to the car. I think we were pretty good the whole race. The initial start didn’t work out and we just got stuck on the bottom. At the end of stage 1, we were able to work our way up, and then stage 2 went well. The final stage went good, as well. The No. 19 was the class of the field – he definitely had the car to beat.”
Kevin Harvick — Finished 4th: “We knew we just had to get rolling on the old tires. Just rolled the bottom. Probably should have rolled the fourth lane instead of the third lane, but still a decent day. We’ll keep plugging along. This had just been a great racetrack for us – another top-five. These tracks and these fans here, especially, have been so good to me throughout the years. It’s always fun to come here.”
Brad Keselowski — Finished 5th:
#NASCAR … Brad Keselowski finished fifth. How he viewed today’s performance at New Hampshire. pic.twitter.com/vDVbhCpi1O
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) July 17, 2023
Austin Dillon — Finished 9th: “Our No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Chevy team fought really hard today. We didn’t have the greatest balance, but when the track changed, the car came to us a little bit and we were able to make something out of it with strategy and having a good Chevy on the long run. It was a good fight. We battled back from a speeding penalty. Looking forward to continuing the momentum next weekend at Pocono Raceway.”
Chase Briscoe — Finished 10th: “Out of the last two or three months, it feels like a win – truthfully. At the start of the race, we weren’t really great by any means. But I said a couple weeks ago coming over here that it’s going to take a while to figure out these cars – to learn these cars, what adjustments make the most sense and kind of what my baseline is. I felt like right there at the end, we were a seventh-place car, but if we could have started the weekend there, then maybe we could have been battling for the win.”
Erik Jones — Finished 11th: “It was an up-and-down day for the No. 43 Allegiant Chevy team. Just started out way deep in the field and had to work our way forward. We got our Chevy better throughout the day. We had one bad run, but fortunately, we ran long and ended up on the good side of it. We got some track position there with the late yellow that got us back up in the top-15. We restarted 20th and came home 11th there, so it was a good run for what we had.”
Michael McDowell — Finished 13th:
#NASCAR … Michael McDowell finished 13th, his best finish at New Hampshire, and continues to hold the final playoff spot with six races left in the regular season. pic.twitter.com/EU40kGfYiS
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) July 17, 2023
Daniel Suarez — Finished 16th: “In the beginning, we had track position and we were able to defend ourselves pretty decent. But once we lost track position and we lost the balance of the car a little bit in stage 2, we just couldn’t recover. It seemed like we had some issues with the right-rear on the pit stops that cost us a lot of track position, as well. My pit crew is one of the best out there and I know that they’re going to figure it out. I’m pretty sure it was a mechanical issue and it wasn’t their problem.”
Justin Haley — Finished 17th: “We struggled the most in traffic in our No. 31 Chevy and lacked stability in the right rear. Track position was key, which made it hard to make too many adjustments for fear of losing that track position. We fought hard on that last run, and I feel like we got the most we could out of the day. Overall, I do feel like we learned quite a bit this weekend at a place that is usually one of my weaker tracks. Time to get back to work.”
AJ Allmendinger — Finished 19th: “Today wasn’t our day in New Hampshire. We struggled really bad in traffic all day and just couldn’t get the right adjustments to help the handling of our No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevy. We’re definitely disappointed with our run today but we’re moving on to Pocono.”
Aric Almirola — Finished 34th: “I thought it (the right-rear) felt a little bit awkward leaving pit road, but then after that, working my tires in and going through the gears before the restart, ya know… I spun the tires a few times – everything felt normal. I didn’t really have any concerns going into the restart, and then, obviously, the right-rear wheel came off. So, just really, really disappointed.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 36th: “No, I’ve been lacking right-rear grip the whole time we’ve been here. Just couldn’t get the right-rear feel in the race track. You’re just going along trying to keep it under you as much as you can. It was getting late in the run, and I was trying a different line and it was just too high. I didn’t like to be that high on entry. I couldn’t give it wheel and have the right-rear stick with the lateral grip that you need.”
