MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
GANDER OUTDOORS 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 7, 2018
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Playoff Contender)
1ST *CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
7TH AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AAA CAMARO ZL1
12TH *KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1
17TH RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1
28TH *ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Chevy Playoff Contender)
1st Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
2nd Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
3rd Joey Logano (Ford)
4th Erik Jones (Toyota)
5th Kurt Busch (Ford)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. The 1000blubs.com 500 is scheduled for Sunday, October 14 at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
POST RACE NOTES & QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – RACE WINNER
YOU ARE SHAKING YOUR HEAD ALMOST IN DISBELIEF. YOU TOLD YOUR GUYS, THANKS FOR NOT GIVING UP ALL DAY LONG. HOW MUCH OF THIS WIN IS ABOUT PERSEVERANCE?
“Oh, a lot! We had a (speeding) penalty there, early, and fell behind. Luckily, I had a good enough car and a good strategy to get back. Man, what a day. Just thanks to those guys, man. And that man right there in that white shirt (Rick Hendrick). He has done so much for me. I wish my mom and dad were here, but man; it’s been a hell of a day.”
HOW ABOUT THE REDEMPTION HERE IN DOVER? LAST YEAR YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD THIS RACE WON WITH A COUPLE OF LAPS TO GO
“It definitely makes it sweeter, for sure. You don’t appreciate it in those moments. But, to come back here and have the day we had, and to move on to the next round; I don’t have to worry about Talladega next week. Man, it’s a great day. Thank you.”
WHERE DID ALL THAT SPEED COME FROM?
“Just perseverance and good adjustments throughout the day. It was just a great effort. I appreciate everybody and all my partners, NAPA, Valvoline, Hooters, SunEnergy1, Chevrolet, Mountain Dew, and Kelley Blue Book. It’s been an up-and-down year, I feel like. To have this race slip away last year makes the day that much more sweet.”
THE CALL WAS TO LEAVE YOU OUT ON OLD TIRES. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THAT?
“I just feel like I’ve messed it up so many times. I was like hey, here’s your opportunity to make it right and to do it right. I don’t know. Today just felt different. Like in those positions, I just felt more confident and just excited about the opportunity instead of unsure of what was going to happen. It’s just amazing and I just love the opportunity that Mr. Hendrick has given me. I’m glad he was able to be here today for our second win of the year.”
WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ALAN’S (GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF) CALL TO STAY OUT?
“Well, I really thought it was the right move to be honest with you I was shocked those other guys pitted with that few laps left. I just knew if we had a bunch of cautions it was going to be hard to hold those guys off if they kept leap frogging forward. Just a great effort, a lot of perseverance today, had a penalty there at the beginning, fell back and was able to climb back forward and ultimately move on.”
WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO TO CLIMB BACK FORWARD?
“Just a good car. We made some really good adjustments there as the race went along. I felt like the beginning of that first run by the end of that first stage I thought we had fallen off some. Actually, when we fell back as we were making our way back through the field I thought that we made some adjustments that really were the difference maker in being able to pass some more guys. Just an incredible day. A fun day. Just makes… this was probably the hardest day of my career here a year ago, so just to be able to come back and get a win today just makes it that much more sweet.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU THAT YOU ARE GOING TO THE ROUND OF 8?
“Yeah, I think just being able to move on and not have to worry about Talladega, so excited to be able to win the first one of three and get to enjoy it a little bit more. Ultimately, we can get some more Playoff points next week and also at Kansas. We are going to keep the hammer down and see what we can do.”
RICK HENDRICK, TEAM OWNER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS:
ON THE WIN:
“Man, you know he (Chase) has been so close here. Moving on the in the Round, I hate it for Alex (Bowman), Jimmie (Johnson) had that problem, but man, he has been so close. It’s really good to see him get this win and move on. It’s exciting.”
GOING TO TALLADEGA WITHOUT HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT IT, YOU KNOW THE BENEFITS OF THAT:
“I have taken four cars to Talladega and cut them up to get them in the trailer, all of them. Yeah, this will be one we can kind of take a little bit of a break and hope Alex (Bowman) can get the win down there, but man, what a great day for Chase. I’m so proud of him. I love the way the fans react to him. Thanks to Napa (Auto Parts) and all the guys that have supported us from way back when the he was 14 years old. It’s pretty cool.”
TALK ABOUT THE MATURATION OF CHASE ELLIOTT:
“You know he is smart, he is like his Dad. He is really smart, he knows when to race and he has got unbelievable car control. I’m just very fortunate to have him in our camp.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 12th
I KNOW YOU EXPECTED A LOT MORE OUT OF TODAY. HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE DAY HERE AT DOVER?
“I don’t know it was just really bad. I’m not sure why we were that bad. It was a little cooler yesterday, but you wouldn’t think that would make us that much different. I don’t know, but yeah, just a really disappointing day. We were really, really bad.”
WITH IT BEING OVERCAST AND CLOUDY THE LAST TWO DAYS DO YOU THINK THE HOT, SUNNY WEATHER CONDITIONS COULD HAVE HURT YOUR CAR AT ALL?
“I mean, I would love to use that as an excuse, but everybody else who was fast on Friday and Saturday were fast today. Yeah, I’m not sure why we weren’t good, but we were pretty terrible.”
WITH SOME OF THE OTHER PLAYOFF GUYS HAVING TROUBLE, WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT THE TENACITY OF THIS TEAM TO KEEP FIGHTING AND FINISH 12TH?
“Yeah, I mean there were a lot of times throughout the race where I wanted to give up. But we are going to need a lot of people to have a lot of issues if we want to make it to the next round.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 28th
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW?
“The No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) kind of got tagged and started wrecking. I thought he was going to get to the bottom of the race track faster than he did. Dover is typically so self-cleaning, but he slid a little longer than I thought he would and I kind of just center-punched him. Watching the replay there was really nowhere to go. I wish I would have at least tried to go left, but part of it. Greg (Ives, crew chief) did a good job getting the car better all day today. It’s a bummer, it could have been a really good day for us.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 29th
“Dover is a tough racetrack, there’s no doubt about it. Our GEICO Camaro ZL1 was just so much tighter in the race than it was in practice. The balance started to improve towards the end of Stage 2, but I just needed more overall grip. We battled through the day to finish the race. It wasn’t easy, but my team isn’t ever going to give up. We’ll move on to preparing for Talladega. We were incredibly fast there in the spring, so I’m looking forward to going back and hopefully ending the day in Victory Lane.”
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