Chevrolet NCS at Phoenix Championship: Post-race Report

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER

1st Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1

3rd Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

4th William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to the track at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum on February 4, 2024.

TEAM CHEVY RACE WINNER QUOTE:

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1

Finished: 1st

“For me, for everybody with Worldwide Express, to end the season like this. We lost Rob Rose (of Worldwide Express) last year, but it’s his vision that started this program. Really for Advent Health, Moose, Jockey, Kubota, all of our partners, there were some questionable times this year, and as we went, we continued to fight and prepare the same. There were some tough days and nights, and sleepless nights, but it made us even hungrier and we brought the thunder this weekend.”

Talk about racing with the championship contenders…

“That last caution saved me. We were way too tight. Phil Surgen, these boys and girls, Michael Hann, our whole sim group, General Motors’ sim group, the whole workforce of 140-plus employees at Trackhouse, came up with a way to make this hot rod turn. She turned that last run, and drove off into the sunset.”

TEAM CHEVY CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR: POST-RACE QUOTES

Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

Finished: 3rd

“(Ryan Blaney’s) car was really fast, really for the last few months especially here today. Our pit crew and pit road just really kept us in the game. We weren’t really the greatest on the track but I was hoping for pit stops because I knew the way our team executed our lights, and the way our pit crew can execute a fast pit stop, I knew that that was our only shot really to win. They did everything in their power to give us the winning job done there. A huge thank you to them. I needed to come out the leader on that restart. Ross (Chastain) got a really good start from the second row, and was hoping I could’ve got clear of Denny (Hamlin) and get the lead and have Ross (Chastain) protect behind me. I’m not really sure that would’ve made a difference, really. I was just not as good as a few guys, especially (Ryan) Blaney and Ross (Chastain) probably. It would’ve been difficult, but my team did a really good job all season. I’m extremely proud of them. We had an up and down year, and we finally put together two solid weeks in a row. I don’t know if we’ve done that all year. A huge thank you to HendrickCars.com, Team Chevy, Valvoline, Jinya Ramen Bar, everybody back at Hendrick Motorsports, the engine shop, everyone. We’ll come back next year and try to be stronger.”

Ryan Blaney made a point in his interview to talk about how respectful you and the two other contenders raced….

“I tried to take as much as I could in turns one and two to see if I could do anything just because (Ryan Blaney) was a lot faster. He was behind me a number of times during the race and never touched me, so I would say, for me and my respect level, it started with him. He raced with a lot of respect early on in the race. He always has, too. It was fun watching Ryan (Blaney), and William (Byron), and (Christopher) Bell kind of when he was still out there, us all racing hard. A lot of fun there, and congrats to Ryan (Blaney) – he’s a deserving champion. Him and his team have done an amazing job. It’s been fun to come up through the ranks with him, and now see him as a champion. Congrats to Team Penske and their whole team, and we’ll try to beat them next year.”

William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1

Finished: 4th

You dominated the beginning parts of this race. Around Stage Two, it seemed to get away from you guys.

“Yeah, once the track rubbered in, we got really tight, especially when we lost the lead. We just had a big balance shift and got tight back in second through fifth and just couldn’t gain a lot of speed through (turns) one and two, and just had to really over slow the car to get it to the bottom. That’s all we had there.

Just really proud of this No. 24 Axalta Chevy team. It’s been a great season. It stinks to come up short, but I’d like to think we’re going to be back in this position and we’re going to have more shots at it. We just have to keep working. Keep working on the short-track program for us – that’s definitely been the tough part of our season. But I felt like we brought a good car this weekend, and really until the track changed, I thought we were in the game. Just all we had there.”

What was it like racing with Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson? You guys were so close at times and you know you’re racing for the win, but also for a championship.

“Yeah, I feel like we all raced really hard. I felt like in Stage One and Two, I could kind of take Ryan’s (Blaney) lane away a little bit and get him tight. And then once he got in front of us, it was really hard to chase him back down. With (Kyle) Larson, I thought we were pretty even. We came off pit road and he did a good job the last run. They had more speed than us the last run. The last run of the race, we were pretty tight there.

Like I said, just really proud of this team. We’ve had a great season and there’s a lot to be proud of, and we’re going to keep digging hard.”