On-Track Incident Slows Momentum for Paul Menard and the No. 2 Richmond/Menards Chevrolet Team at Auto Club Speedway
“We had a fast car today. Justin Alexander made a good call during the second round of pit stops but we were tagged for too many men over the wall. The penalty is starting from the rear of the field, but we were able to make our way back to the front pretty quickly. I’m not sure what happened with Eric Jones, if he was trying to push me or just crossing over. I think he definitely had a brain fart. All weekend long I thought we were at least a third-place car. The leaders weren’t getting away from us before the wreck. We were actually gaining on them. Everyone on this No. 2 Richmond/Menards Chevy works hard and I’m looking forward to my next race with this team. We learned a lot for tomorrow and that’s all you can hope for.”
– Paul Menard
Despite Late-Race Lug Nut Issue, Ty Dillon Earns Top-10 Finish at Auto Club Speedway
“Our No. 3 team just can’t seem to catch a break this year. We started off with a loose Ruud Chevrolet Camaro in the first stage, but we were able to make adjustments at the end of it to really improve the overall balance for the rest of the race. We were able to keep up with the leaders, but we couldn’t seem to find the speed that they had. So when we had the opportunity to try and catch people with fresh tires towards the end of the race, we took it. We came in with the leaders and took four sticker tires with 36 laps left and restarted in 20th, but I was able to pick cars off pretty easily with new tires. I moved all the way up to 6th, and it’s unfortunate that a missing lug nut after our stop during the last caution set us back to 22nd. I did all that I could in those final laps to get us back into the top 10, but I just needed a little more time. It was definitely not the way we wanted to end the day, but I know that I’ve got a great group of guys pitting my car each weekend. They were great all day, and I know that we’ll be ready for another strong finish in Texas.”
– Ty Dillon
Daniel Hemric Secures Career-Best NASCAR XFINITY Series Starting Position at Auto Club Speedway En Route to Top-15 Finish
“This was definitely not the finish we had in mind when we started on the outside of the front row with the No. 21 Blue Gate Bank Chevrolet. We worked on the handling of the car throughout the entire race, but never got it to where we wanted it. Danny Stockman did a great job of making adjustments all day long. We had an issue on pit road in the middle of the race, but were able to fight our way back toward the front of the field. We’ll take everything we learned on this West Coast swing and go to work at Texas Motor Speedway in two weeks.”
– Daniel Hemric
Late-Race Incident Forces Brandon Jones to a 32nd-Place Finish at Auto Club Speedway
“Our No. 33 Chevrolet Truck Month Chevrolet Camaro just didn’t have the handling we needed it to this weekend at Auto Club Speedway. We chased it for most of the race, constantly needing more grip and more turn. Toward the middle of the race, we had it figured out pretty good running in the top 12. We were able to play some fuel strategy in the hopes that it would turn out like last year’s race and we could capitalize on others’ mistakes. Ultimately, the handling got too loose and it snapped going into Turn 1 with less than 10 laps to go from the 12th spot, causing us to have some pretty heavy front-end damage. My guys worked hard to get me back out there and we were able to finish the race, just not in the position we deserved.”
– Brandon Jones
Brendan Gaughan Ends West Coast Swing with 33rd-Place Finish at Auto Club Speedway
“This isn’t how we wanted to close out our West Coast swing. I ran everywhere, from the low line all the way to the grass on the apron, to the high line all the way to the wall. Let the record show that I ran the bottom at Auto Club Speedway. That’s the only good thing I can say about today. We had three fast cars during NASCAR Goes West and three poor finishes to show for it. For this race I will shoulder the blame. I had a bad day today. We had a top-10 race car most of the day and I didn’t drive the South Point Hotel and Casino Chevrolet the way it could have been run. We had a loose car and I kept getting into the fence. We will go to Texas Motor Speedway and hopefully re-group at a track that has been historically good for me.”
– Brendan Gaughan
