RCR Post Race Report – Daytona 500

“We want to be in Victory Lane where Denny Hamlin is, but all in all, we’ve had a pretty good start to the season for this No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road/E-Z-Go Chevrolet Team. The Daytona 500 is one of those races where you want to finish towards the front because it takes a while to recover from a bad first race. To start the season in the top-13 in points is huge. We were riding around biding our time to make a run for it at the end when I saw a car swing across the field and I knew we were going to be in trouble. I got hit pretty good. I tried to keep it in the middle but ended up with some right-front damage. After that, our car was on the splitter and didn’t want to turn. Still, we survived several more wrecks to finish 12th. I was able to maintain at the end but I think we could have finished a few spots higher if we would have lined up on the outside for the final restart. I really needed other cars pushing me to help me along. We’re through Daytona and it’s a solid start to the year.”

“I’m still looking at replays to figure out what happened during that last wreck, but I know my No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE snapped a little loose right before it. I collected it back up and thought I could save it, but then the rear tires came up and someone hit me. Looking back, there’s always things you would change. I wish I would have dove to the bottom but I had to make a decision in the moment and went with my gut. This just comes with this style of racing. I made it a little further in this Daytona 500 than in my first one, so that’s a plus. My team did a great job getting our Caterpillar Chevrolet dialed in throughout Speedweeks. We survived a couple close calls during the race, got caught up in one big wreck and fixed it really well to where I felt like we were in good shape to contend for the win. Unfortunately, the finish just didn’t go our way tonight. I could have rode a little bit more, but this Caterpillar team is here to win, and that’s what we tried to do tonight.”