Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon led Chevrolet to the checkered-flag in the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway – driving his No. 3 DOW / Rivers for Life Camaro ZL1 to a sixth-place result.
· The finish marks Dillon’s first top-10 result in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at World Wide Technology Raceway.
· Returning to the site of his first career NASCAR Cup Series start, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar piloted his No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Camaro ZL1 to a season-best eighth-place finish.
· The result marked Hocevar’s second top-10 finish this season as the 21-year-old Michigan native competes in his rookie campaign in NASCAR’s top division.
· Despite a spin in the closing laps of Stage Two, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team rallied back to a 10th-place finish – giving the Bowtie brand three different Chevrolet organizations represented in the top-10.
· Among the six drivers to collect points in both stages of the race included Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team.
· The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Sonoma Raceway with the Toyota / Save Mart 350 on Sunday, June 9, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10:
POS. DRIVER
6th Austin Dillon, No. 3 DOW / Rivers for Life Camaro ZL1
8th Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Camaro ZL1
10th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
Austin Dillon, No. 3 DOW / Rivers are Life Camaro ZL1
Finished: 6th
“Man, just thank you to the good lord above. That was a huge run for this team. I didn’t expect it after practice, but the guys made some great adjustments and our No. 3 DOW / Rivers are Life Chevy, with Ducks Unlimited on the side of the car, was really solid all day long, even in traffic. It was just a solid day for the No. 3 Chevy team that we really needed.”
Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
Finished: 10th
“I’m super proud of this top-10 finish. After the spin, I wasn’t expecting that. The car kind of came to life. The No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team did a good job on our strategy. We were on offense there the last 25 laps or so.
It went as well as it could, given the circumstances. I’ll take it.”
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Camaro ZL1
Sideline by damage sustained in an accident in the closing laps of Stage Two.
Talk about the contact with Kyle Larson.
Finished: 35th
“It looked like he (Kyle Larson) got loose down the front straightaway into turn one. He was on older tires and trying to get us for a spot. I’m not sure what that single point would mean for him, but it certainly hurt us a lot. It took that point away, as well as the others that we would get for the stage and then also the rest of the day. It’s very frustrating. We can’t afford days like that. The No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Camaro wasn’t what it was last year, but it was a top-10 car and we were going to finish there. Now we’re not going to finish at all.”
Busch on all the different pit strategies:
“We were kind of holding our own. I know (Kyle) Larson was on older tires and caught me from a couple car links back after I got by him. So I would say once we could equal back out on tires, I would say we would probably be top-10.”
Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Poppy Bank Camaro ZL1
Finished: 18th
“I think we learned a lot collectively as a team today. Our Poppy Bank Chevy struggled early on, but Trent [Owens] kept plugging away and made great changes. We caught a lucky break during stage two, which gave us great track position to start the final stage. I’m proud of how much we improved throughout the day.”
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Camaro ZL1
Finished: 8th
“This No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevy team did a really good job with everything all race long. We had a really slow stop at the beginning of the race with a lug nut coming off. That really put us behind. We knew we had a great Chevy, so we just did everything we could. We played strategy a little bit to make sure we were on the right end of it. We caught the caution right, but then after that, our car was really good. We ran as high of fourth and we were catching third. Our lights were off, so we were a little slow down pit road. That was probably the difference of getting a top-five finish or not. All-in-all, it was just a really good job by this No. 77 team.”
GM PR