Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway:
Austin Cindric — Winner: “Honestly, I’m heartbroken for the 12 team. I don’t know what happened to them at the end of the race, but they deserved to win this race. Ryan has been a hell of a leader on this team. This weekend was a great weekend for everybody involved. To have two cars in the fight and an eventual one-two there, like I said, I’m heartbroken for those guys, but this is huge for me. This is huge for this team. I’m so glad I was able to get a win with Brian as my crew chief in the Cup Series. You never know when it’s gonna happen again. I just drove my butt off and hoped for the best.”
Denny Hamlin — Finished 2nd: “We had a top-five car – we didn’t have the best today, but the Yahoo Camry was in the mix, and was able to capitalize on some others misfortune there. We were going to have a top-five day regardless but proud of the team. They did a great job on pit road – Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) and the team brought a great car, just wasn’t quite enough.”
Brad Keselowski — Finished 3rd: “That was strategy. We got behind early for sure, but we kept putting ourselves in position to keep moving forward and I wish I could have gotten second but it was a really hard-fought day for everyone on the Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang. We will take a lot of good momentum from this one for sure.”
Tyler Reddick — Finished 4th: “A rough first stop there. I slid a little long, and just slowed everyone down on the 45 pit crew. We came in eighth and came out in 28th. It took the entire race to claw back from that – just a great effort by the guys. I feel like we were right there with (Austin Cindric) to start the race, so obviously, it is a little bit of a bummer that we had that issue, but that is kind of the name of the game when you come to World Wide Technology Raceway – you have to have a clean race, and unfortunately, we didn’t.”
Joey Logano — Finished 5th: “We weren’t too far off. We were just a few adjustments away of getting our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang as good as our teammates were, but not too bad. We were able to grab some points, which we need to do, and a Penske car got in Victory Lane, so you’ve got to be happy about that. Obviously, we’d rather it be us, but that momentum goes through the whole shop. It’s still a good day. We still scored a bunch of points today with stage points in both stages. A poor qualifying effort, which probably hurt us a little bit on tuning the car and just a little too loose off.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 6th: “That was a huge run for this team. I didn’t expect it after practice, but the guys made some great adjustments and our No. 3 DOW / Rivers are Life Chevy, with Ducks Unlimited on the side of the car, was really solid all day long, even in traffic. It was just a solid day for the No. 3 Chevy team that we really needed.”
Christopher Bell — Finished 7th: “I have no idea what happened. Some sort of motor issue. I’m surprised that I made it to the end. Glad we were able to salvage something out of it. You don’t get race cars like that very often. Whenever you do, you need to take advantage of it. Disappointing day.”
Carson Hocevar — Finished 8th: “This No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevy team did a really good job with everything all race long. We had a really slow stop at the beginning of the race with a lug nut coming off. That really put us behind. We knew we had a great Chevy, so we just did everything we could. We played strategy a little bit to make sure we were on the right end of it. We caught the caution right, but then after that, our car was really good. We ran as high of fourth and we were catching third. Our lights were off, so we were a little slow down pit road. That was probably the difference of getting a top-five finish or not. All-in-all, it was just a really good job by this No. 77 team.”
Justin Haley — Finished 9th: “It was a really good race for the MotoRad 51 team. I’m really proud of the strategy that the Rick Ware Racing team brought. It was a fast competitive car, and we were able to stay with it all day and make positive adjustments. When the final stage started, we really started picking up speed and had a lot of pace in the car. We had some good strategy and ran out of fuel right there at the line, but still got a top-10 and now we’ve got solid momentum going to Sonoma.”
Kyle Larson — Finished 10th: “I’m super proud of this top-10 finish. After the spin, I wasn’t expecting that. The car kind of came to life. The No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team did a good job on our strategy. We were on offense there the last 25 laps or so. It went as well as it could, given the circumstances. I’ll take it.”
Chase Briscoe — Finished 17th: “I’m not really sure what all happened. I know there were a lot of different strategies there and I don’t know what played out and how it played out. Our car was OK. It definitely seemed like we struggled a little more on the long run than some of the other people, and we were lacking overall grip. Kind of a worst-case scenario for us, how it all played out. But I thought we definitely made our car way better from yesterday. We’ll learn from that and go to Sonoma.”
Daniel Hemric — Finished 18th: “I think we learned a lot collectively as a team today. Our Poppy Bank Chevy struggled early on, but (crew chief) Trent (Owens) kept plugging away and made great changes. We caught a lucky break during stage two, which gave us great track position to start the final stage. I’m proud of how much we improved throughout the day.”
Noah Gragson — Finished 22nd: “We just struggled all weekend with the balance, and struggled with speed, struggled with take-off pace, struggled with long-run speed. Everything was just stuck in dirty air and couldn’t go on new tires, just struggled. Appreciate all these SERVPRO guys. Our 10 team, we’re frustrated, it’s not to our standard today. We’re going to go back to work and figure it out for Sonoma.”
Ryan Blaney — Finished 24th: “I never thought in my mind we were short. It’s one of those things. I’m proud of the 12 boys. The Menards/Richmond Ford was fast. I had my work cut out for me holding off Christopher. That was fun. I don’t know what happened to him, but just one lap short. That stinks, but congrats to the 2 team. They did a good job all day. Props to them, Austin. I’m proud for Team Penske and Ford. I’m really happy with our showing today. I don’t know what I’ve got to do to get some luck on our side. I’ve wrecked the last two points races and thought we had a great shot to win today and I ended up bad, so I just appreciate the effort. We just have to keep sticking with it.”
Derek Kraus — Finished 30th: “It was a long day here at Gateway. I felt we had a better car than our results, however, I was never able to get the track position we needed or keep it when we did have it. I’m thankful for Kafka Conveyors and Kaulig Racing for the opportunity, and I look forward to having another shot towards the end of the year.”
Cody Ware — Finished 33rd: “It was a tough day for the No. 15 team. I didn’t start off great for us but once I got settled in, we had really good pace. We were running top-10 speeds by the end of the race. I felt like it was good overall improvement for me, for only my second race this year. It’s been encouraging to see how much the organization is improving and building. We’ll keep working and learning.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 35th: “It looked like he (Kyle Larson) got loose down the front straightaway into turn one. He was on older tires and trying to get us for a spot. I’m not sure what that single point would mean for him, but it certainly hurt us a lot. It took that point away, as well as the others that we would get for the stage and then also the rest of the day. It’s very frustrating. We can’t afford days like that. The No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Camaro wasn’t what it was last year, but it was a top-10 car and we were going to finish there. Now we’re not going to finish at all.”
Josh Berry — Finished 36th: “I really don’t know what happened. Obviously, with what our past has been with the rotors here, it kind of makes you think that. I went over and looked at the rotors and it looked like they were still on it so it is either that or a tire. … We moved up into the top 15 pretty quickly. The car was pretty good and I was learning a lot. We pushed the exit on the last section a little too hard and got the penalty there. We were still passing cars though and it would have been another good day.”
