CHEVROLET NCS AT SONOMA: Post-Race Report

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 19th

“I’m proud of everyone on the No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE™ (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Sonoma Raceway for fighting back and staying in it all day. We were strong today, but the results don’t show just how strong we were. I got loose in Turn 11 and thought I would be able to recover, but contact in the right-rear from another car sent me into the tire bundle and we spun. It’s just very typical of the season we’ve been having. After the spin, we were last but we were able to climb back up to 19th before the Checkered. We had a fast Chevy and we were on our way to one of our best road course performances after a lot of focus and preparation for this race, so I hate that we had that setback, but I’m proud of everyone on the No. 3 team for their efforts. We’ll take advantage of the NASCAR off weekend to regroup and be refreshed and ready to battle at Nashville Superspeedway.”

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 MCLAREN CUSTOM GRILLS CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 2nd

“Not too bad of a day for the No. 8 McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team at Sonoma Raceway, I just wish we had a little bit more. I tried hard to keep Martin Truex, Jr. honest. I felt like I could beat him a little on a lap, and then I would mess up and he would beat me by more on the next lap. We were trading a little bit, but he was able to pull away late. Overall, great job by all the RCR and ECR guys on this Camaro. I’m proud of the effort. We gave it everything we had. We made a lot of changes. We got a lucky break with the yellow with only three laps on tires. We were able to cycle to the front. Once we got up there, we could maintain pace with some of the good cars and had a good top-three speed race car. Good fortunes for us, and it’s nice to come out here with a second-place finish after a win last week. We have three wins at this point in the season, and this team is really stringing together some good runs, so I don’t know if I want an off week. It will be good to regroup, focus and set up for the last 18 races of the season, though. Overall, I’m just really proud of the guys on this team, the communication, and the way they are able to go to work, work through some of our issues and try to improve on what I need to be able to feel in a race car and pull out finishes like the one we had today. If we can keep doing those things, we will be a force for the championship.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 5th

“It’s nice to get a top-five, no doubt, so proud of that. We were trying to do something a little different with strategy. We had pit about six or eight laps there before that caution. We just felt like our only play was to stay out. I was really hoping that more people would do that with us so we’d have three or four rows. It still probably wouldn’t have been enough, but I do think it would have been nicer to have a couple more rows and a buffer for those with tires.

It was certainly a good fight for the No. 9 NAPA Chevy team. It was one of our better runs there in the last couple of races, so always good to finish strong. It wasn’t an ideal situation, so to kind of fight through it there and come home with a top-five is good. Looking forward to build on that and hopefully contend for a win before long.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 GABRIEL GLAS CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 6th

“We started off pretty good there. We got up to fourth there in Stage One, and I thought at that point, we were the third- or fourth- fastest car. We were about one lap away from being really good. I got really loose the second run, so we were going to pit and right before we pit, the caution came out. That made us restart 16th and then it was just kind of a dog fight from there. I felt like we had pretty good pace with short-run speed, but I would get super loose in traffic, so I had to fight that. It’s just so hard to pass.

I thought the No. 16 Gabriel Glas Chevy team did a great job all day. The pit stops were really good. We had a good stop there at the end – were able to make up a couple of spots and make what we could out of it.”

JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 CIRKUL CAMARO ZL1

Finished: 21st

“Overall, it was not a bad day for this No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection team. I feel like we were really good in the high-speed areas and not so great in the braking zones. I felt like we had some speed, but my biggest issue was not being able to pass. We will regroup after the off week for Nashville.”