Promising Run Spoiled by Part Failure at Phoenix International Raceway for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 American Ethanol Team
“This is a difficult one to stomach. We had another fast American Ethanol Chevrolet today but, unfortunately, we had a part failure that shut the engine off. Everything seemed fine but when we restarted the race following a caution flag, the car just locked up and shut off. We ended up in the garage making several changes and were able to fix the problem and return to the race. It’s a bummer to run in the top-five and then finish 23 laps down. We only have one race left this season. I’m looking forward to Homestead-Miami Speedway and having the chance to finish the year off strong.”
– Austin Dillon
Never-Give-Up Attitude Leads Paul Menard and the No. 27 Chevrolet Team to a 10th-Place Finish at Phoenix International Raceway
“I’m proud of my team and the never-give-up attitude they showed today. This was the first uneventful race we’ve had in awhile. We made a lot of adjustments and tried a few different things on our Rust-Oleum RockSolid Chevy throughout Friday and Saturday. I think those changes translated well to today’s race. We only had to make a few adjustments to get the handling where it needed to be. It was a good day. We’ll take it.”
– Paul Menard
Ryan Newman and the Cat Minestar Team Battle Back From Two Spins to Finish 12th at Phoenix International Raceway
“This day is on me. We had a much better Cat Minestar Chevrolet compared to where we finished. That first deal, I did not anticipate the amount of rear brake we had and I spun entering pit road. I hit the commitment cone and it cost us a lap. It seemed like every time we were in a position to get our lap back, we’d come up short. Then I spun with Martin Truex Jr. and it just compounded everything. Fortunately we raced back on the lead lap and up to ninth but the final restart did not go our way and we ended up 12th. I told Luke and the Caterpillar team that they did a great job improving our car from yesterday. I’m just sorry we did not get the result based on the quality of car we had.”
– Ryan Newman