CHEVY NCS AT KANSAS: Post-Race Notes and Quotes

 

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:

POS.   DRIVER

2nd     KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1

7th      ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1

8th      RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 DILLONS / LOUISIANA HOT SAUCE CAMARO ZL1

9th      ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1

13th    AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1

16th    WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1

18th    NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 16 CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1

19th    COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 GARNER TRUCKING, INC CAMARO ZL1

20th    TY DILLON, NO. 42 CHEVYLINERS.COM CAMARO ZL1

 

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:

POS.  DRIVER

1.        Kurt Busch (Toyota)

2.        Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)

3.        Kyle Busch (Toyota)

4.        Denny Hamlin (Toyota)

5.        Christopher Bell (Toyota)

 

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, May 22, at Texas Motor Speedway with the NASCAR All-Star Open at 5:30 p.m. ET, followed by the NASCAR All-Star Race at 8 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

 

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd

SO CLOSE FOR KYLE LARSON TODAY. KYLE, EIGHT LAPS TO GO AND YOU’RE BATTLING SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH KURT (BUSCH). YOU ENDED UP GETTING INTO THE WALL. DID HE GIVE YOU ENOUGH ROOM OR WERE YOU JUST TRYING TO USE EVERYTHING YOU HAD?

“I mean, we were racing for the win there. He never got into me, so I’m trying to squeeze throttle to get position on him and just got tight. That was fun racing with Kurt (Busch). You know, the last half of the race I was trying hard the whole time. I about spun out in front of him there at some point in the third stage and then we just kept fighting through it.

 

Thanks to my team for building me a war machine. I hit the wall a lot today and just struggled, like people could put air on me and get me really tight and I hit the wall. We’ll work on that and figure it out, but happy with my car. It was hard to hold off Kyle (Busch) and then I knew when Kurt got by, I knew it was going to be really hard to hold him off. I did my best but came up one spot short.”

 

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th

“We started off pretty good and pretty early on in the race, we realized we were capable of a top-10 car. The first stage was good. We had a lug nut not get engaged on the left rear during the green flag stop in stage two, which we got lucky to even get it back on. We were able to cycle back around to about where we should have been, so that was fortunate.

 

From there, there was just a lot of ups and downs. We would restart upfront and then we’d restart in the back; and I can’t even remember what all happened exactly. We had a lot of speed in our No. 1 Advent Health Chevy Camaro. It’s cool to be that fast. I hit a tire on pit road late and that dented in the left front fender; and that ultimately made us too tight to fight for a top-five.”

 

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 DILLONS / LOUISIANA HOT SAUCE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th

“All-in-all, a really good day and another top-10 for our No. 47 Dillons / Louisiana Hot Sauce Camaro. After starting in the back from our issues in practice yesterday, I’m really happy with the result. We were solid on pit road. We made some good adjustments to get our car better. I felt like I was really strong at points, but we were around an eighth-place car. The top-five were really, really fast, and I didn’t have anything for them.

 

I’m really happy with where we ran. We didn’t make any mistakes and brought home another top-10. That was our goal coming in, to try and keep that momentum going.”

 

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th

“We had a fast No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 today. Greg (Ives, crew chief) and the crew did a good job at keeping me in it and giving me what I needed to stay up front. Super proud of my guys and the hard work they put in each week to continue to learn about the new car and give me what I need to be competitive. The pit crew did a great job on pit road, getting me track position and making solid stops. We will go back to Charlotte and look over all the notes from today’s race and try to get better for Texas next week.”

 

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 13th

“Nice work by everyone on the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet today. It was a lot of hard work and a long day, but we got an okay finish out of it at Kansas Speedway. We had a penalty in Stage 1 for equipment leaving the box, but the pit crew was pretty fast the rest of the day. In Stage 2, we pitted under green just as the caution came out and we had to take the wave around. We rebounded nicely, though, and spent most of Stage 3 in the top-12. The restarts were a struggle today. Our car didn’t really start handling well until about 20 laps into a run, so that’s something we’re going to have to do some work on. We’ve got some work to do but this team will keep digging.”

 

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 32nd

“Our FOCUSfactor Chevy was decent today. We started out pretty good, but a little on the free side. The guys made good changes and made a pit call to get us in the top 10 and stage points at the end of stage one. Unfortunately, we had the issue with our tire and getting the right rear off. That kind of ended our day after going multiple laps down. We’ll refocus and head to Texas for the All-Star race.”

 

STAGE ONE

  • Tyler Reddick, No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL1, led the field to the green from a front row starting spot; his seventh top-10 starting spot of 2022 and his first in six-career NCS starts at Kansas Speedway.
  • The field saw a variety of pit strategies during a caution on lap 61. Crew Chief Dave Elenz called Erik Jones to pit road for two tires, giving the No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1 the win off pit road; advancing 11 spots ahead of the restart.
  • With a 13-lap dash to the end of Stage One, Ross Chastain powered his No. 1 Advent Health Camaro ZL1 to a runner-up finish in the Stage, leading Chevrolet to four of the top-five and six of the top-10.
  • Other Camaro ZL1’s earning stage points at the conclusion of the 80-lap Stage included

3rd      Chase Elliott, No. 9 UniFirst Camaro ZL1

4th      Tyler Reddick, No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL1

5th      William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1

8th      Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1

10th    Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

  • Three Chevrolet drivers recorded laps led in Stage One, including Tyler Reddick (24 laps; second-most); Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (3 laps); and Kyle Larson (3 laps

 

STAGE TWO

  • Following a cycle of pit stops at the conclusion of the Stage, Ross Chastain led the field to the green from the front row to start the 85-lap Stage Two.
  • William Byron powered his No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1 to the lead at the beginning of the Stage, becoming the eighth leader of the day.
  • Out in a strong lead, Byron suffered a flat left rear tire, forcing the No. 24 Chevrolet team to come down pit road under green for a four-tire stop; rejoining the field two-laps down.
  • With 41 laps to go in the Stage, Chase Elliott was scored as the leader, preparing to bring his No. 9 UniFirst Camaro ZL1 to pit road when the caution flew. Making a four-tire, fuel and air pressure adjustment stop under the caution, Elliott restarted in the 10th-position with 29 laps left to go in the Stage.
  • At the conclusion of Stage Two, Chase Elliott recorded his second top-five Stage finish of the day, bringing his No. 9 UniFirst Camaro ZL1 to the line in fifth.
  • Joining Elliott in the top-10 of Stage Two included:

6th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

7th      Ross Chastain, No. 1 Advent Health Camaro ZL1

  • With 165 laps in the books, 10 different drivers had held the lead, including six Chevrolet drivers: William Byron (25 laps; third-most); Tyler Reddick (24 laps); Chase Elliott (10 laps); Ross Chastain (4 laps); Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (3 laps); Kyle Larson (3 laps).

 

FINAL STAGE/POST-RACE QUICK NOTES

  • Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team was second off of pit road, giving the team a front row restart position with 65 laps to go.
  • Larson ultimately crossed the finished line in the runner-up position, giving the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team its seventh top-10 finish of 2022.
  • Ross Chastain finished seventh; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished eighth; and Alex Bowman finished ninth to give Chevrolet four top-10 finishes.
  • With 13 races in the books, Chevrolet has recorded 36 top-five’s and 63 top-10’s, continuing to lead all manufacturers. 

 

GM PR