RCR NXS Post Race Report – Auto Club 300

“We were about a fourth or fifth-place car the entire race but we kept working very hard to make the Rheem Chevrolet better. It seems like we were a little better than the No. 19 car on the final run. Danny Stockman told me before the run that we needed to save about one lap’s worth of fuel so as soon as I felt like we had a little bit of a gap I started saving. The No. 6 car was behind us and he was keeping me pushing a little bit there. He came to me a few times during that run so I was saving a little bit and then picking up a little bit when I wanted to, but I felt like I saved a pretty good amount so when Stockman said I was good on fuel I went for it at the end of the race. ECR Engines provided good fuel mileage, I did my job, Stockman did his job and sometimes things just go your way and today it definitely did. It was a fun race and I hope the fans liked that last lap. That was exciting because a little bit of everything happened with tires flat, fuel running out and cars hitting the wall.”

“Auto Club Speedway is probably the hardest track for me to have tackled in my rookie season. It’s like a combination of Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. It has the rough characteristics of Atlanta with the seams and everything with the way you run over them and obviously it has the big feel to it like Daytona does. I think all and all, we had a great Nexteer Chevrolet the whole day. We kept improving on it through the whole weekend. In qualifying we got a second-and-a-half faster so this entire team is pretty pumped up about it. I think being able to come out of here with a top-10 finish is pretty awesome. This is a big eye opener for us that we can run in the top 10 at the hardest place I’ve been to so far. I think at some of these tracks where I get to see beforehand or return to, we’ll be even better.”

“I love fuel mileage racing. I think it’s fun and I like the drama. I’m really excited that Austin won. That’s great for RCR and ECR. We should have had a top-five so I’m disappointed about that. The guys were great on pit road all day.  Shane Wilson had a strategy that really played out well with tires at the right times. Considering where we were off the truck, we made all the right changes and I’m happy with that finish.”