Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway:
Christopher Bell — Winner: “You never know how this thing is going to shake out whenever you change so many things like that and the adverse conditions. I personally love adverse conditions because you’re always trying to think outside the box. You know, whenever we went back out, I was feeling around, and it felt like the normal Loudon groove was really, really slippery. So I tried to just run down or run up, and Adam (Stevens) put the tune on this thing, and it was turning really good.”
Chase Briscoe — Finished 2nd: “The rain saved us for sure. We were terrible in the dry. We knew typically on the road courses and even the ovals that we’ve ran in the rain we’ve been pretty good truthfully. I didn’t expect to drive up to second, but yeah, really good recovery as far as that Ford. … Yeah, it was fun racing at the end and slipping and sliding around (on wet weather tires). The track was changing a lot. It was a lot like sprint car racing, and the groove was literally changing lap in and lap out.”
Josh Berry — Finished 3rd: “We were debating back and forth on bottom or top (on the final restart). I really wanted to take the front row, but it was just -- it just seemed slick down there, right, and I just felt like I would be stuck racing probably Chase (Briscoe), who would have been on the outside. Kind of like we ended up. Honestly, I think I probably just -- I really pushed Christopher out there really hard, and I think that kind of checked my momentum. Then I just got a little loose off of two and got Chase back to my left rear. He kind of drug me back, and we got stuck racing and had to drag race there to the line.”
Kyle Larson — Finished 4th: “Yeah, it was fun. I think when it’s like that, I think that is why you see a lot of the dirt racers kind of migrate to the front. Just tried to feel it out under caution. It’s not my best bet on the restart to go extremely low, but it worked out and I was able to maintain track position the rest of the race, so I am proud of that.”
Chris Buescher — Finished 5th: “Loudon has not been our best track, definitely not mine specifically. There was no quit in this Fastnal group today. It was awesome to come home with a top five. We were really good in the rain when it was wet. We really fought for it when it was dry but we were on wet tires. There at the end there was just really one good groove and that made restarts a battle. We were able to persevere through all that and bring this thing home with a handful of more tire marks on the door than when we went in under red initially, but a really good night for us.”
Tyler Reddick — Finished 6th: “Yeah, it was a really interesting day – that is for sure. It was a real shame we couldn’t find victory lane today in our SiriusXM Toyota Camry, but for us to take a risk and have a potential to win the race if it continued to rain and to turn that into a top-10 finish is good for our team. We will take the sixth place finish, and move on from it and get ready for the next one, but it was certainly an interesting day and a wild experience.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — Finished 7th: “Our day was all over the place. We were really bad on dry tires and just struggled all day. And then when we went to the wet weather tires, we had really good runs. We struggled a little bit, but there at the end, we got our No. 47 Kroger/Kleenex 100 Years Chevy really good. We were able to battle back from 25th and drive up into the top-10. We made the most out of it, which was really cool. Two top-10s, back-to-back, and hopefully we can do the same thing at Nashville.”
John Hunter Nemechek — Finished 8th: “We were stuck two laps down until we got all of the cautions. I was sitting on the top of the box with Ben (Beshore, crew chief) praying that we were going to be able to go back racing. We were awful the first run of the race, and just worked on it all day. These guys gave it all they had. A lot of adjustments throughout the day. … I’ll take eighth after the day we had. I think we were stuck in 31st or 32nd pretty much all day, so solid finish for us and something that we needed. Hopefully we can build some momentum off of this.”
Martin Truex Jr. — Finished 9th: “When it was pouring rain, I thought we were headed home. Definitely a tough day. We had a speed in our Reser’s Camry. It is a shame the way things worked out, but definitely happy to get a top 10. It has been a rough four weeks, so we needed a good finish. We had good stage points, and we needed a good finish, so glad that we got it, but it hurts to have a tough day here, probably being my last one.”
Ross Chastain — Finished 10th: “Overall, I think we ended up about where we were going to be if we ran the whole race in the dry. I feel like we just have some fundamental things to work on, like sliding my front-tires too much with slicks on in the dry, wets on in the wet and wets on in the dry. I just need to slide my tires less. But all-in-all, happy to salvage a top-10 finish. We’ll regroup and get ready for Nashville.”
Ryan Preece — Finished 11th: “I feel a lot better about today now with how we ended versus before how it was before the rain delay. We were going to finish 28th and finished up 11th. I am still mad finishing 11th because I just feel like we still should have finished higher.”
Erik Jones — Finished 13th: “We put the wets on the Dollar Tree Camry, weren’t really good on them, and had to make some big changes to get better, and just ran out of time in the end trying to get our track position better. Okay day, wish we could have just run on the dries and ran a normal race. We will take what we learned and hopefully be better for the wet next time.”
Harrison Burton — Finished 14th: “I am a little frustrated honestly. I think we should have finished a lot better. We picked the bottom on the last restart and if I had it back I would pick the top. I don’t know. It is hard. It is hard to not restart fifth instead of, I think I would have restarted 10th or 12th or something on the top. You never know how it works out. it is a bummer to not finish it off. It felt like we had a good car once it went to the wet especially. If I could keep the right rear tire on it. The caution came out with nine to go and that was really good timing. It is easy to be mad now but also thankful that it came out because my right rear was pretty hurt. We just have to figure out everything there and go over our process on choose. I would like to finish it off better next time but we had a good car and I am proud of our guys.”
Ty Dillon — Finished 20th: “I’m really proud of the guys today and everything they did to make the car better. At one point, we were two laps down, and we just kept fighting, hitting our restarts, and gaining positions back. We still need to work on a few things, but was an overall team effort today.”
Kaz Grala — Finished 22nd: “We made the most of our finish today, for sure. We got behind early but were on our way forward when one of the crashes in the dry damaged our right side quite a bit. We had to manage that throughout the wet portion of the race, and it definitely hurt our speed, but we fought our way as far forward as we could to salvage a 22nd-place finish. Our Meat N’ Bone team worked hard all day and executed the way we needed to.”
Ryan Blaney — Finished 25th: (On what Michael McDowell said to him after the race) “He said he was sorry he wrecked me. Apologies are nice, but it isn’t going to bring back what he did. I knew what he was trying to do. It was a low percentage move. It was wet down there and he drove it in there. What do you think is going to happen? You are going to take both of us out. I know he has to win and all that, and that was his excuse, but you have to be a little more calculated than that. It stinks it was at our expense. Man, I really thought we had a decent shot to contend. I was happy because we came in, put tires on, made a big adjustment and I was looking forward to restarting behind Bell and see if we would have anything for him but just never got a chance. I am proud of the 12 boys. Long day and a really fast car. I really enjoyed where our short track program is going right now. Hopefully we can just continue to get that a little bit better.”
Noah Gragson — Finished 27th: “I just lacked grip. Super loose all the way around the track. Must’ve hit the paint on entry to (turn) one, and not intentionally by any means with the 23 (Bubba Wallace). Just a mistake on my part. It was unfortunate and I apologize to the 23 guys for ruining their day. That’s obviously not what we want to do and not what I want to do. It was completely unintentional.”
Justin Haley — Finished 29th: “Our Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford Mustang Dark Horse was so good today. I really felt like when we went back racing after the delay, we’d be able to stay in the top-10 and battle for a top-five finish. Unfortunately, the damage we got when the Nos. 34 and 12 wrecked made a bigger difference than we thought and there wasn’t much I could do to overcome it. We still have a lot to be proud of. The top-10 runs are getting more consistent and we’re showing just how much work is being put in to improve at Rick Ware Racing.”
Daniel Hemric — Finished 31st: “We knew coming into the weekend that our short-track package has been a challenge for this Kaulig Racing team, and that’s what today was. Our No. 31 Poppy Bank Chevy lacked rear grip, and I spun after using up the rear tires. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t rebound and get our laps back.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 33rd: “Our luck is unreal on this No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet team this year. We started the race today with serious balance issues and difficulties going over the bumps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. We finally get rolling, we were going to roll past two on the top, and the No. 10 car loses control and we have no where to go. Our Chevrolet was destroyed and it ended our day. It’s unfortunate because I felt like we had an opportunity to make up some ground and think outside the box on wet tires. We’ll rebound and head to Nashville Superspeedway next weekend.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 35th: “I’m proud of everyone at RCR and all the guys on the FICO team for their hard work this weekend. They did a great job making adjustments and repairs. We didn’t get to qualify on Saturday and had only five minutes of practice. The FICO Camaro was a handful in the race but Randall Burnett kept making changes. We worked our way back into the lead lap and thought we could pick up a few more spots but unfortunately we hit the wall under caution on wets just before coming back to green after the rain delay and weren’t able to finish. We’ll take the FICO Chevy back to the shop to evaluate what happened and how we can improve on our New Hampshire package.”