Here’s what drivers were saying after Sunday’s playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The quotes were gathered before NASCAR disqualified Kevin Harvick for the No. 4 failing post-race inspection.
Ryan Blaney — Winner: “It was a pretty wild restart, but let alone the last couple of laps losing momentum and getting it back, just getting clear to the bottom to get to the front row and drag race it out with Kevin. I’m just proud of the whole 12 group.”
William Byron — Finished 2nd: “Yeah, it was really intense there at the end. I just couldn’t quite get pushes as square as those guys, and I felt like where they could get connected and just create runs, they just got us there. On the backstretch, the No. 4 actually got in front of me and that allowed I think the No. 12 to get in front of me and the No. 4 actually went back in the middle.”
Denny Hamlin — Finished 3rd: “Not how we drew it up, but a dub is a dub and that was a dub in our book – it’s as close as it gets to it. I’m proud of this whole Mavis Toyota team for bringing me a car fast enough to win. When I had to go there, I could and made the right moves at the right time and a top-five is a long way from where we were with about 15 laps to go.”
Austin Cindric — Finished 5th: “Who’d have thought that Talladega would be the first place we would get a finish in a month without any damage or hitting anything. I put us behind with a speeding penalty and was still able to recover at the end.”
Justin Haley — Finished 6th: “Overall, we had a fast No. 31 Morris-Shae Chevrolet. We ran inside the top five for a while and stayed clean all the way until the end. I thought we’d be able to make something happen at the end, but we ended up avoiding the big one coming to the line to get a solid superspeedway finish.”
Chase Elliott — Finished 7th: “It was fine. We got some decent stage points. Finishing eighth, hopefully that’s good enough to help us in the owner’s championship points.”
Ryan Preece — Finished 8th: “These superspeedways are all about track position and that was the name of the game all day long. We really tried to execute with tire strategy and fuel throughout the day. My Ford Mustang was fast all day and I knew if we could make that high line work with the other Fords, we could take off.”
Chandler Smith — Finished 11th: “While I hate that we didn’t get to finish a bit higher up, we ran really well today. I’m happy that we keep improving every time we bring the No. 13 Quick Tie Products Camaro ZL1 on track.”
Chase Briscoe — Finished 13th: “It was a long race for the No. 14 team but we found a strategy that worked for us and were able to stick with the Fords up front for a bit. But, that also meant that we had to start from the back a few times and we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We had damage that really got in the way of getting a better finish, but I was hoping we could avoid whatever was coming at the end.”
Tyler Reddick — Finished 16th: “I feel like we just had a solid car. The pit strategy under green flag conditions didn’t really work out for us too well. Me and Bubba kind of just took a chance hoping the bottom and the middle would choke themselves on the restart. The last four or five laps after the restart were the fastest laps were turned all day, so just made it really difficult for the top line to work – just kind of got a little bit fortunate.”
Aric Almirola — Finished 17th: “We just didn’t have the help we needed on the outside lane there. I was the only car able to push and we didn’t get enough momentum from behind. Our No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang did not handle well as the leader, but our car was great as a pusher. That’s why we lined up the way we did on the last restart.”
Martin Truex Jr. — Finished 18th: “We were stuck on the bottom there in the end, I think with three to go we were up to 10th or 12th and three laps later we were 19th. Nowhere to make any moves, just everything was clogged and you just kind of rode there and got what you could. Tough day, but I think we are in good shape going to the Roval.”
AJ Allmendinger — Finished 20th: “We lacked speed all weekend in our No. 16 Action Industries Chevy, and we weren’t able to make anything happen without commitment from someone to go with us. Disappointing weekend but we still have time to finish our season on a high note.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 25th: “I pulled out there to get in that high line and we all got kind of jumbled up there coming through the frontstretch. The No. 43 came with me and a couple others in front of me were up there, and we just didn’t go anywhere. The pace was too fast around the bottom and the middle that the outside lane couldn’t make any headway.”
Brad Keselowski — Finished 32nd: “It was just one of those Talladega pushing and shoving deals. I just gave a really light push to the 42 car and it turned around on him, so unfortunate for us. We were able to win the second stage and were in a pretty good position there. It sucks. It sucks for everybody. I hate it for him. I hate it for us, but it is what it is.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 33rd: “I didn’t see any of it. I guess I got caught in the right rear. When I was in the infield care center, Brad Keselowski told me that he pushed the No. 42 car too hard and wrecked him, but No. 42 car was squirrelly without anybody pushing him. His car didn’t seem set up very well and he was late moving around. I had noticed that and got out of the middle to get away from him, so I don’t really understand the No. 6 car pushing him. It was a hard hit and an unfortunate end to our day.”
Ty Gibbs — Finished 34th: “Yeah, I just got hit out of nowhere in the right rear. It’s really unfortunate. We had a pretty good Monster Energy Toyota Camry. We were working our way back up and getting ready for the end – just really unfortunate.”
Carson Hocevar — Finished 35th: “I don’t fault Brad (Keselowski) at all. I did it in the Truck race even. When you’re in the top lane, you have to push. You have to start building momentum. You have to start creating forward energy. It’s just a tough spot. I wasn’t that good of a leader, so I was just trying to learn. I talked to Brad a little bit – I didn’t know if I was backing up too much trying to lock-on. It’s just a tough spot.”
Ross Chastain — Finished 37th: “I don’t take any of this personally here (Talladega Superspeedway). I could have stayed on the bottom a few laps earlier probably and would have been safer. I just had a couple of cars land in my lap there and I went for the gap. Obviously I wish I would have lifted now, but I’ll study that and be better next time.”
