WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International.
Chris Buescher — Winner: “This team is so great. Our long run speed was just phenomenal. I thought we lost it there on that last one and to stay right there with him. That was the spot he was better than us and he missed it, so I tried a crossover. He went to cut and just hard racing there. It’s just such an awesome finish. To be that good for so much at the end of the race, all race, to get a win is good. We came here to be a spoiler and we’re gonna do that.”
Shane van Gisbergen — Finished 2nd: “I gave him a little bump to get the spot, and I knew it was going to come back. So, I was just pushing the entries and trying to get away and just made an error. Pissed because these races are hard to win, and we have had a rough run in the Cup Series this year. The WeatherTech Camaro was really good, fastest car all day, and it just didn’t work out.”
Carson Hocevar — Finished 3rd: “I just needed some more confidence into turn one. I did everything right, all the way until turn one, and then I just lifted a little too early. When I lost leverage, it was just game over from there, but I had a really good shot for the win. We were last in practice with a bunch of issues. I’m just super thankful that we were able to turn the weekend around for the No. 77 Mattress Warehouse Chevy team.”
Ross Chastain — Finished 4th: “Once we had that caution at the end of stage 2, it took us out of control of the race, for Shane (Van Gisbergen) and I. I would have still been able to restart on the front row, and I messed up with passing the No. 6 with like 20 to go and let the No. 77 get by me. It was just a driver error, and I messed up. Once he was back by me, I didn’t have enough to go back and pass him again.”
Zane Smith — Finished 5th: “We started the late-race restarts around 11th, I want to say. We just had an incredibly fast No. 71 Focused Health Chevy all day. Spire Motorsports brought great race cars. Appreciate everyone at Focused Health and this whole No. 71 team. I’m mad at myself for my penalty. I was just under a tremendous amount of pressure and I was just trying to execute everything. We were able to keep getting positions on those restarts. Just got roughened up there at the end, but fortunately I was able to gain a few stops back.”
Chase Briscoe — Finished 6th: “It’s what we needed to do was to score stage points and run good in the race and we were able to do that. It was a really good, solid day for our HighPoint.com Ford. I felt like I could have got a couple more points, but just didn’t want to risk it there at the end. I knew I was in a pretty good position compared to a lot of the field, so we did what we needed to do and now we just need to go do that same thing next week. We need to just hit singles and doubles and don’t do anything crazy. As long as we just execute all day long, it should be enough. We’ll just go on to Bristol and see what we can do.”
Ryan Preece — Finished 9th: “The day didn’t start out very well, but it got a lot better. It was pretty chaotic and ultimately we had a pretty good car. Track position was everything today. Knowing where we were and never having it. (Crew chief) Chad (Johnston) was aggressive on the strategy and made the right calls to get us track position and we kept it. Ultimately, we got the race finish that we deserved, even with those late race cautions.”
Noah Gragson — Finished 11th: “I just had a good practice and qualifying and tried to figure this place out. I’d never raced here, so I lost some spots early in the race. Then we worked really hard getting track position. Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and the rest of the Bed Bath & Beyond team called a great race, strategy-wise. I just need to clean some stuff up on my part. But I’m grateful for this team.”
Kyle Larson — Finished 12th: “Our race was pretty wild. We started right in the middle of the field, and it was just never quite relaxing. I feel like our No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy was really good. We made great improvements on it overnight. I think studying some data helped on my end, as well. Happy with the improvement, but just wish we could restart the whole weekend over. I think it would go a lot better.”
Daniel Suarez — Finished 13th: “We went through a lot today. The No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevy was pretty fast, especially on the long runs. I thought we were able to drive through the field once we had lost some track position, but it was very difficult to pass.. way more difficult than what I anticipated. And then we lost a wheel, and from that, we were just trying to recover. I’m very proud of this team for not giving up; doing a good job at executing and going to fight right off the bat. Finishing 13th after being stuck in the gravel isn’t a bad day.”
Christopher Bell — Finished 14th: “I don’t know. That was our worst road course race that we’ve had in a very, very long time with our DeWalt Camry. That was disappointing, but ultimately if you would have told me that I’m going to come out of here with gaining on the points to the cutline, I would’ve taken it. It wasn’t pretty how we got there, but we got there and now we can go to Bristol and relax a little bit more.”
Alex Bowman — Finished 18th: “We were obviously a really good car, just the strategy didn’t fall how we needed it. We had some issues on pit road. It wasn’t the result we were looking for, but still a really good points day for the No. 48 Ally Chevy team. I feel good about things. We had a really fast race car, but it just didn’t work out as far as the finishing position goes. But still a really good day.”
Martin Truex Jr. — Finished 20th: “You get green-white-checkered at the end of the race, and you know people are just going to drive through someone. We were on the wrong lane, on the short end of the stick as usual. We were in a decent spot there with our Reser’s Camry, and you go through the esses, and they just plow through you and put you in the marbles. This racing is just ridiculous.”
#NASCAR … A frustrated Martin Truex Jr. on the racing at the end .. “I’m tired of this.” pic.twitter.com/kCyfBLWMO1
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) September 15, 2024
Ty Gibbs — Finished 22nd: “A lot of chaos for sure. We were just not good today and fought to have a good points day. I wish we could have had a better finish and a better points day, but it is just part of it. Hopefully, we can learn and come back better – just not a good day.”
Denny Hamlin — Finished 23rd: “Great effort by this FedEx Toyota team to keep us in it. Obviously the car is just destroyed, so to finish 23rd – I guess there is a positive. We were certainly in a worst spot most of the day, and luckily, we had some attrition there at the end that helped us out.”
#NASCAR … Denny Hamlin goes into Bristol below the cutline … “It’s not over yet.” pic.twitter.com/5wrcqZYsQz
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) September 15, 2024
Josh Berry — Finished 25th: “We had, honestly, a really good day, I just hate that we didn’t finish where we should’ve. We were poised there to take an easy top-10, which would’ve been a great improvement for us, but unfortunately it just didn’t pan out there at the end. Everybody did a great job and we’ll get ready for the next one.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 29th: “Our No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet team never gave up today, but it was definitely a challenging race for us at Watkins Glen International. The handling of our Chevy was evil all day. We had no grip and we were sliding everywhere. Crew chief Justin Alexander made great calls for adjustments throughout the race, but we’ll have some work to do before we come back to this track. We were able to race our way to as high as seventh today, but we lacked downforce whenever we didn’t have track position. We were in a tough spot for a lot of the race, but luckily this team managed to avoid some big wrecks today. We’ll regroup and head to Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 30th: “We had a lot of confidence heading into Watkins Glen International based on my past success at this track and our RCR team’s performance over the past several weeks. It’s a shame we got turned around on the first lap of the race. I got whacked in the left rear and spun around in the bus stop. From then on out, it was about survival and salvaging what we could. Crew chief Randall Burnett and all the guys on the No. 8 zone Chevrolet team did a great job making repairs and we were able to finish on the lead lap. It was certainly not the day we wanted though. We’ll regroup and head to Bristol Motor Speedway.”
Daniel Hemric — Finished 31st: “Super frustrating finish to what started out as a solid day for this No. 31 Cirkul team. We had a really good first stage, and Trent [Owens] had a good strategy that we thought would put us in a good position there at the end. Unfortunately, the same axel issue that the No. 13 had, plagued us as well with just a couple laps to go.”
William Byron — Finished 34th: “It was just chaos. We got it pretty good there in the second stage. In the final stage, we made a long stop there and got pretty happy. Drove to around 11th on track, and then some of those guys still had to pit, so felt good about that. And then we came in and took tires and had to restart in the 20s, but it was going to work out I thought. And then those guys got connected together. I am not sure exactly what happened, but I was trying to get to the outside of the No. 22 and the No. 6 kind of hooked back to the left. Glad we got some points in Stage two, that was helpful. We just have to go to Bristol and have a good weekend. This was just kind of a nightmare weekend.”
AJ Allmendinger — Finished 36th: “It just felt like it just snapped the axle. It sounded like it pulled the axle out of the transaxle, but there’s more that went off in there. It was violent. I’m just happy that I did catch the race car in front of everybody.. that was going to be big.”
Ryan Blaney — Finished 38th: “They didn’t give us a chance to fix it. How are they going to dictate if we are done or not? They have no idea of the damage. They said we were done because I couldn’t drive it back to the pit box, but if you have four flats, you get towed back to the pit box. You can’t drive that back. I don’t know what is going on or why they won’t give us a shot to work on it but I don’t agree with it. I don’t even know what happened, honestly. We stacked up and I caught someone in the lfet front and it completely broke the steering. I don’t know if we could have fixed it. But that is the frustrating part, just didn’t even give us a chance and just ended our day without even letting us look at it before it is in the garage. It stinks.”