TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
4th AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1
5th Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1
8th Tyler Reddick, No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1
10th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL1
11th Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1
12th Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Raze Energy Camaro ZL1
16th William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Camaro ZL1
19th Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Harris Teeter / Scott Camaro ZL1
20th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Christopher Bell (Toyota)
2nd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3rd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
4th AJ Allmendinger (Chevrolet)
5th Justin Haley (Chevrolet)
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 37th
What are you thinking when you have to go to the garage to make some repairs?
“Really nothing going through my head.. just a testament to the No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevy team to get my car back out there that quick. They got the suspension fixed and got us back out there to finish.”
You go onto the next round. How are you feeling?
“I’m human, so it hurts to make the mistakes that I made today and yesterday. I’ll take some time here with my guys and when I drive out of this parking lot, I’m going to make a big effort to leave the ROVAL here. Normally, it’s Monday morning when I’m done with it and look through everything, but we’re onto another round.
It’s a testament to our season and our finish in points today. The strategy by Phil Surgen (Crew Chief) and our strategy with Trackhouse and Team Chevy to get the stage win in Stage Two is ultimately the difference that gave me the buffer when I needed it the most. I will drive off the property here in Concord and leave this here. It’s number one priority.”
Take me through the incident that caused the damage?
“Lack of awareness of car placement in turn two and hit the wall.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 35th
At what point in the race were you worried?
“As soon as I hit the wall. Yeah, you just give up that many spots; you know it’s going to be close and then the caution there. So, yeah, I just made way too many mistakes all year long. Made another one today and it ultimately cost us a chance to go chase another championship. Just extremely mad at myself because I let the team down a number of times this year and let them down in a big way today. We will keep fighting and we will come back stronger. I will definitely come back stronger, smarter and make better moves out there. Just mad at myself. Bummer.”
Seems like you take a lot of the blame for this. How do you make it up to the team?
“Go race hard. There is no other person to blame than myself for today. I feel like our team put ourselves in a position as well as we could on points today. We got as many stage points as we could and I think we were plus 27 or 28 at the time when I screwed up. Just for no reason either. I wasn’t even pushing all that hard at that moment. It got loose and caught me off guard.
So yeah, just keep working on my craft, get better and make a lot less mistakes. Like I said, I made way too many mistakes this whole year and you can’t win a championship like that.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 20th
You led the most laps today, but chaos there at the end of the race. How do you describe it from your perspective?
“I’m not 100 percent sure.. I haven’t seen a replay yet.
I thought I had a pretty good launch and thought I got through (turns) one and two good. I thought I gave AJ (Allmendinger) enough room through one and two to not run into the fence. I don’t know if he just got loose, overdrove turn three or whatever, but I ended up on the outside. Whatever the reason, he ran wide and I ended up the track in a super compromised situation.
Bummer. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) called a great race. Our No. 9 NAPA Chevy wasn’t great, but it was plenty good enough to win. Our team called a perfect race to get us the lead, and our pit stops were really good to not to have any mistakes and get us a really nice cushion. We had a lot of laps on our tires, but I could maintain my pace out there with having a nice gap. We’ll try again next week.”
We restack things next week with Las Vegas, Homestead and Martinsville. How is your confidence level in the Round of 8?
“I think it’s going to be a really tough round. Vegas was a struggle for us in the spring. Homestead, we’ve just been really hit-or-miss there. We did have a test there a couple weeks ago, so hopefully we’ve learned from that. Martinsville, it’s just going to be about how you qualify because I don’t see anybody passing there. We’ll see how it goes. Try to bring our A-game. It would have been nice to have some more points from today, but we didn’t and we’ll try again out in Las Vegas.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ACTION INDUSTRIES CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 4th
How are you feeling with the crazy way that race finished?
“When you are that close to winning, it’s for sure disappointing. But I’m happy with the way this No. 16 Action Industries Chevy was. It was really fast. We just need to work a little bit on pit road. We lost that little bit of track position, and it was a track position game. Once I got around the 8 (Tyler Reddick), I was burning my stuff up trying to catch the 9 (Chase Elliott). With those restarts, I knew I was kind of used up already. I got a good restart there and when Chase and I touched kind of through (turn) two, I went to set up for three and it turned me sideways and I slid a little more. That was unfortunate because that allowed the 4 (Kevin Harvick) to get to my bumper and we know Kevin is going to do that if he gets any chance. That’s a part of racing and going for the win. That second restart there, it was just a couple of guys with better tires, and you are just a sitting duck.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 16th
“Give enough room, try to not barrel it into the chicane and get hooked in the left- or right-rear. Certainly, just not how you want to race there at the end, but it was just crazy racing with the green-white-checkered and the way that guys are able to get into each other, make contact, guys spin out and the track gets blocked. It just gets wild there at the end.
But we did what we needed to do, which was to get some stage points and finish the race. We’ll move on and get ready for Las Vegas.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 36th
How hard was today for you?
“Very tough. The second-half of the race was probably the most difficult race I’ve driven in my life, but it is what it is. Unfortunately, me as a driver, that’s something that’s out of my control.”
As you look back on this year, certainly there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a very encouraging year, isn’t it?
“It’s been good. Certainly we have to continue to work and continue to get better.”
It was hard to pass out there. What did it look like from inside the race car?
“The first-half of the race was good; and then we had a mechanical failure with the steering and after that, it was game over. It’s very disappointing to lose a race like that. Our No. 99 CommScope Chevy was good; it was fast. I felt like it was going to be an easy transition based on the speed that we had, but once we lost the steering, I was just trying to survive. My arms are destroyed right now. My hands are destroyed. It’s just unfortunate.”
TEAM CHEVY RACE QUICK NOTES
Stage One:
· William Byron led Chevrolet to the green in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 playoffs elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, taking a front row starting spot in his No. 24 Valvoline Camaro ZL1.
· Chevrolet playoff contender, Ross Chastain, moved to the rear of the field in the starting lineup after damage sustained in an accident in yesterday’s qualifying session forced the team to make repairs to his No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1.
· The 25-lap Stage One went caution free, with five Chevrolet drivers taking spots in the top-10 of the stage. Leading the Bowtie brigade was William Byron, driving his No. 24 Camaro ZL1 to a second-place finish in the stage.
· Stage One Team Chevy Top-10:
2nd William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Camaro ZL1
3rd Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Camaro ZL1
6th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
9th Tyler Reddick, No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1
10th AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1
Stage Two:
· Crew chief Randall Burnett called the No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1 to pit road with two laps remaining in Stage One, allowing Tyler Reddick to stay out during the stage break to give the No. 8 Camaro ZL1 a front row restart position for the start of stage two.
· Stage Two also went caution-free, with pit strategy atop the No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1 pit box putting Chastain into position to be at the top of the leaderboard and take the stage win. This marks Chastain’s sixth stage win of 2022.
· Stage Two Team Chevy Top-10:
1st Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1
3rd Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
4th AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1
5th Tyler Reddick, No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1
6th Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Camaro ZL1
10th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1
Final Stage / Post-Race Notes:
· Chevrolet drivers took four of the top-10 finishing positions, led by AJ Allmendinger and the No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1 team in fourth. Allmendinger’s Kaulig Racing teammate, Justin Haley, rounded out the top-five in his No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1.
· Rounding the Team Chevy top-10 was Richard Childress Racing teammates Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon, who placed eighth and tenth, respectively.
· Three Chevrolet drivers advanced to the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8, including Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and William Byron; and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain.
GM PR
- CHEVROLET INDYCAR AT LONG BEACH: Team Chevy Practice Report - April 19, 2024
- Burt Myers on Pole for Hayes Jewelers 200, Ward Starts Second at Bowman Gray - April 19, 2024
- O’Ward Takes Top Spot in Tight Opening Long Beach Practice - April 19, 2024