CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
NHRA THUNDER VALLEY NATIONALS
BRISTOL DRAGWAY AT BRISTOL, TENNESSEE
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2017

An interview with Pro Stock winner ALEX LAUGHLIN, LAUGHLIN RACING, GAS MONKEY ENERGY/360 WRAPS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 8 qualifier; defeated Nol. 2 qualifier and Pro Stock points leader Bo Bunter in final; second career Pro Stock national victory):

Q: YOU DIDN’T HAVE ANY FREEBIES. IT WAS TOUGH.
ALEX LAUGHLIN: Absolutely. It’s been an awesome day. First of all, happy Father’s Day to my dad. I just so thankful. This is the second dream come true.

Q: YOU’RE THE EIGHTH DIFFERENT WINNER OF THE YEAR. DOES THIS DRAG YOUR PLANS OUT A LITTLE?
ALEX LAUGHLIN: I’ll say yes because we won enough money to go to Norwalk next week.

TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 5 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “(In the first round) We ran an 89, and that was more than decent in the heat. Second round we had a (cylinder out) so we were already in trouble. It’s tough going out early in the day, especially when all your teammates go out. We’re all going to pack up as one and go to the next one and hopefully we can win there.”

FUNNY CAR:
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “It’s a hot an interesting race day here in Bristol. Our Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro team was hoping for a better end to our weekend. We qualified in in the No. 4 position, which was a great start. But I think we lacked a little consistency out here and, most importantly, a lot of cars struggled to get down the track. It is just the case of a hot and slimy track, and we have to figure it out before we get to Norwalk because it might be exactly the same. I’m proud of my guys for all their hard work, but looking ahead to Norwalk, Ohio, we’re hoping to finish off the four races in a row strong. After going out in the second round today, we had a good run at it but it started spinning. I went to pedal it and blew the burst panel off, so I couldn’t really come back from that and he went around me for the win. It was a close race, but no one is running killer times out here and I think we just have to get this fixed because we were on a good run and I think we can learn something from it and head into Norwalk feeling a little more positive.”

PRO STOCK:
TANNER GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, GRAY MOTORSPORTS VALVOLINE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 11 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “Coming into eliminations today, I knew Greg (Anderson) was going to be tough to beat. I am so proud of my Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro team. Excited to line up against my dad, especially on Father’s Day. That was awesome. My dad was tough. But no matter who it is I am going to line up and face them like anyone else. (Red light in semifinal) That’s not how I wanted to end the day. I thought I nailed the tree, and unfortunately I was too early.”

JEG COUGHLIN JR., ELITE MOTORSPORTS, JEGS.COM ELITE PERFORMANCE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “You know, we had a nearly 140-degree track up there and just honestly overpowered it a little bit. As soon as I swapped feet and let the clutch out it wanted to pick the rear end up and just spin and shake. At that time, I was trying very hard to get it into second and third to calm it down. I think I was in third gear by the time I passed the tree and by then I could see that Alex was motoring down through there and knew we were in trouble and just had to call it a day. It was great to be here in Bristol. We made it through some heat, got the top qualifier, and added another round win. Now we’re looking forward to Norwalk in the coming week in our beloved Buckeye State. We’ll be ready.”

GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in first round): “The bumps got me, and that’s the truth. I got a little too far to the right and the bumps were horrendous there, and I came completely unglued out there in fourth gear. That’s what cost me the race. Next week we’ll head to Norwalk, and we’re looking forward to that. Last week we showed we can win, and we’d like nothing more than to be able to hand our friends at Summit Racing a trophy again.”

JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier; fell in first round): “That was a really close race, from beginning to end, it just didn’t fall in our favor this time. I’m certainly looking forward to getting to the next race because this day was far too short for the KB Racing team.”

DREW SKILLMAN, SKILLMAN RACING, RAY SKILLMAN AUTO CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 9 qualifier; fell in first round): “This weekend was definitely a struggle. The racetrack was really difficult to get ahold of. We struggled with set-up and it showed. We didn’t come out of the trailer with the right set-up and just struggled all weekend. I had a bad light and that was the end of my weekend.”

SHANE GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, GRAY MOTORSPORTS VALVOLINE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 10 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals to son Tanner): “Round 1 was a big win for our Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro team. Those KB (Racing) cars are tough (he defeated Jason Line). Tanner (Gray) and I met first round in Atlanta and unfortunately he beat me. I am looking forward to beating him. Now my son and I have raced first and second round in this deal. The next time we meet will hopefully be in the final. He is a tough competitor and it was a great race.”

JOHN GAYDOSH, GAYDOSH PERFORMANCE, GAYDOSH PERFORMANCE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (did not qualify; severe engine issue in first round of qualifying): “Either a piston exploded or dropped a valve again. We really won’t know until we do the autopsy on the engine to see what happened. Just disappointed it happened the way it did and we’re not able to run today or this weekend because of the catastrophic failure. The Gray’s helped us out. We went to Denver, North Carolina, and picked up one of their experimental motors. But because I have an older chassis, it didn’t fit properly. So instead of taking the risk of having an issue with putting the motor in there and trying to run, we opted out of that and decided with better judgment not to do it. We’re going to send the car to Jerry Haas to fix the car to fit the motor before Norwalk so we’ll be able to go to Norwalk and Chicago.”