CHEVROLET NCS AT KANSAS: Post-Race Notes and Quotes

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:

POS.   DRIVER

4th      ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1

6th      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1

7th      ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENTHEALTH CAMARO ZL1

8th      KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1

10th    DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1

 

 

 

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:

POS.  DRIVER

1st      Bubba Wallace (Toyota)

2nd      Denny Hamlin (Toyota)

3rd      Christopher Bell (Toyota)

4th      Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)

5th      Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)

 

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 16 elimination race will get underway next Saturday, September 17, at Bristol Motor Speedway with the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at 7:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

                                                                                                               

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENTHEALTH CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 7th

“Our No. 1 AdventHealth Chevy was on either side of tight or loose all day. It was just really a fine line. We just never really settled into a nice run. Our best run was the second-to-last, with our second-to-best run being our last run. We put the chips where they needed to go at the very end, but all day it was just a handful.”

 

YOU ENTERED THIS RACE WITH SEVEN FINISHES OUTSIDE OF THE TOP-10. HOW BIG IS IT TO GET A TOP-1O FOR YOU GUYS IN THE PLAYOFFS?

“We all just high-fived. It feels good. It’s been a rough couple of months here. There were times today where I thought we were going to run 14th and I thought we were just going to keep this going. We had a really good day on pit road. Our No. 1 pit crew is just incredible. We cycled ourselves back up there and we were able to stay plugged in between the No. 48 (Alex Bowman) and the No. 5 (Kyle Larson). We were running with the guys we are supposed to be running with; and we finished around the guys we are supposed to finish by. It was a great day for our No. 1 AdventHealth Chevy team.”

 

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 GET BIOETHANOL CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 14th

“We just fought balance on our No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL1 all day. The same thing we’ve fought all year, really. We had high hopes because we qualified pretty decent. I’m proud of our guys, we fought hard. We kept ourselves in it and we have a shot at Bristol (Motor Speedway).

 

 

YOU’RE BELOW THE CUTLINE, BUT WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE. DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN BATTLE YOUR WAY INTO THE NEXT ROUND?

“Yeah, for sure. Bristol is going to be wild and anything can happen. We’ve given ourselves a good shot. Nobody knows what to expect when we get there, but it’s a long race. If you’re there at the end of the day, you’ve got a good shot to make it.”

 

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 8th

IT LOOKED LIKE ONE OF THOSE DAYS WHERE YOU GUYS JUST COULDN’T GET THE HANDLE OF THE CAR.

“It was a little bit of that. For the restarts, I just didn’t have a good balance; but I also didn’t do a good job on the restarts. I think I only had two good ones. Gave up a lot of stage points early on because of that. Even when I thought I was in the right line, I was tight. There at the end, I finally got a good restart and was able to get to third. It was really loose; I tried to go for second and I got really sideways.

 

 

After the green flag stop, I felt good but I was just a little bit on the tight side and couldn’t make enough ground in traffic to make a move and had to settle for eighth. Disappointed with that. I thought we had an opportunity to finish a lot better, but we’ll move onto Bristol.”

 

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 GUARANTEED RATE CAMARO ZL1, sidelined by damage sustained after losing a right-rear tire on lap 67.

Finished: 35th

“The right-rear tire just blew like we’ve had a few times. At Fontana (Auto Club Speedway), I was able to save it. But here, it snapped at the worst possible point and we just killed the wall. It broke the control arm on the right-front, so our day was over. We leave here with not a lot of points, so we’ll have to fight hard at Bristol (Motor Speedway).”

 

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 11th

“Probably just bad lane choice. I don’t think we were good enough to go win. Bubba (Wallace) was really good, congrats to him and his team. That’s a big win for him and a deserving one, too.

 

We just had a bad restart there and fell back a lot of spots. Our car wasn’t really driving any differently than it was earlier in the race when we were up front. You just kind of loose momentum, start going the other direction and it’s difficult to rebound from that sometimes”

 

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 6th

“For as far off as we started, we definitely made a really good rally. I just appreciate the adjustments and pit stops by everybody on the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet team. At the beginning, I thought if it was a long run, we would have gotten lapped. But we just got our car so much better through the middle part of the race. Towards the end, it was just really hard to know what we needed to be better.

 

 

I’m happy with the finish and thankful for the effort. It looks like we’re plus 48-points going into Bristol, which is a tough track. It’s been a good two weeks in a row. We just need to put three weeks together and we’ll advance.”

 

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 29th

“Definitely not the day we were looking for at Kansas Speedway with our FOCUSfactor Chevy. We were off in practice yesterday and made some adjustments to help today, but just never had a good handle on our Chevy. We started the day too tight, adjusted to then be too free. Had contact with a couple of other cars racing three-wide in stage two, and then the handling was just never where it needed to be. Not sure if we broke something when we made contact, but struggled the rest of the race. We’ll go back to the shop, look over everything and refocus on Bristol next week.”

 

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 4th

“We had a good day for our No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1. Proud of all of my guys. We had a good weekend – Obviously, we didn’t want to throw those stage points away in stage one like we did, but we overcame that in a hurry. I’m just proud of Greg (Ives) and the guys. We had a great racecar. The last 15-laps of a run is where we would fall off and get beat, but I’m still proud of all of the guys. We ended up with a solid points day.”

 

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 10th

“Today was very inconsistent. It was a long day. At times, we were OK and then some other times, we weren’t good. We had a couple of situations there on pit road and then we had a tire going down. We had an eventful day. But for a day like that and to finish in the top-10, I’m quite happy. We have some work to do. We are not where we need to be. At times, I felt like we were a top-five car; and at times, we were a 20th-place car. We have to be a little bit more consistent. We don’t really understand why it was so inconsistent, but we’re going to find some answers and move onto Bristol.”

 

TEAM CHEVY RACE QUICK NOTES

Stage One:

·       For the second time this season, Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Guaranteed Rate Camaro ZL1 led the field to the green from the pole position in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Reddick led Team Chevy to five top-10 starting spots in race two of the NCS Playoffs Round of 16.

·       From the third starting spot, Alex Bowman powered his No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 to the lead on lap three, continuing to pace the field until the competition caution at lap 25. Bowman gave up the lead to come down pit road for a four tire and fuel pit stop.

·       Running in the second position at the competition caution, Reddick came off pit road out front, with the No. 8 Guaranteed Rate Camaro ZL1 taking the lead on the restart.

·       While at the top of the leaderboard, Reddick blew a right-rear tire, forcing the No. 8 Camaro ZL1 into the wall to bring out the caution on lap 67. Sustaining too much damage to continue, Reddick brought his car to the garage to end his day.

·       Under caution, crew chief Justin Alexander brought Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL1 to pit road for a two-tire stop, with Dillon gaining 17 spots on pit road to come out first off pit road.

·       The conclusion of Stage One saw four Camaro ZL1’s in the top-10, led by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the fourth position after starting the race at the rear of the field due to repairs made following wall contact during yesterday’s practice session.

·       Stage One Team Chevy Top-10:

4th      Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 SunnyD Camaro ZL1

6th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

8th      Ross Chastain, No. 1 AdventHealth Camaro ZL1

10th     Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro Zl1

 

 

Stage Two:

·       Running in the second position, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. blew a right-rear tire, making contact with the wall to bring out the caution on lap 109. The No. 47 SunnyD Camaro ZL1 team was able to make repairs to replace the toe link and put Stenhouse Jr. back into competition.

·       Following a caution on lap 137, the leaders brought their cars down pit road for a round of pit stops. First in on pit road; the No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 Crew Chief Greg Ives called for a four-tire stop for Bowman, with the team also winning the race off pit road for a front row restart position.

·       Bowman went on to take the Stage Two win, marking the No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 team’s second stage win of 2022.

·       Stage Two Team Chevy Top-10:

1st      Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

3rd      William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1

5th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

7th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

10th     Ross Chastain, No. 1 AdventHealth Camaro ZL1

 

 

 

Final Stage / Post-Race Notes:

·       Chevrolet drivers took five of the top-10 finishing positions at Kansas, led by Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 team in fourth.

·       In 28 NASCAR Cup Series points-paying racing, Chevrolet continue to lead all manufacturers in NCS race wins (16), top-fives (66), top-10s (122), and stage wins (23).

 

GM PR