RCR Post Race Report – Martinsville 500

“I was pretty much distraught Friday after qualifying 29th because we put a lot of focus into qualifying here and talked about where I had messed up in previous races. I backed it up and messed it up again. I came back Saturday and regrouped as a team and decided to work on our car and work on me. The race today was fun.  To start 29th and to drive up through there like we did is a testament to these guys and effort they put in. The Dow Chevrolet seemed to race well. The pit crew did a great job. We broke a jack and were able to recover from that. A lot of things happened today.  It was just a career day for me and everyone on the Dow Chevy team here at Martinsville Speedway.  I’m looking forward upcoming races.  I learned a lot today.”

“We had a really fast Chevy all weekend. We were a top-10 car in all the practice sessions then qualified fourth. It was fun to drive up and lead several laps at the start of the race. We started with a little bit higher air pressure to start the race and just gave up too much. We kind of got backwards after that first pit stop and then had a set of tires that had a loose wheel. We made some good changes in the middle part of the race and battled back. We’ve got fast equipment and it was one of those weekends where everything just came together. I can’t thank my guys enough.”

 

“Coming into this race I told the team they brought me the best car I’ve ever had at Martinsville Speedway. During the opening laps we were a top-five car despite a tight-handling condition. Our lap times especially held up during the longer green-flag runs. After our third stop, we don’t know what happened to be honest. The car was on the splitter and it was just a handful to drive. It cost us big. We lost a lap and for about 150 laps we marred back in the 19th and 20th positions. No one on this team threw in the towel because our lap times were within the top 10. We were even passing top 10 cars, but needed to somehow fight our way back onto the lead lap. With about 50 to go, we got the break we needed and raced our way back onto the lead lap. A late-race caution allowed us to pit for fresh tires and we were able to race from 17th to a 10th-place finish. I’m proud of this Grainger team and everyone at Richard Childress Racing. We worked hard this off season and to see all three cars end up in the top 10 says a lot about our organization. Glad to see this team rally back for a top 10 because we had another good car and now a decent finish to reflect it.”