Paul Menard and the Richmond / Menards Team Earn 19th-Place Finish at Richmond Raceway Following Unscheduled Pit Stops

“Tonight was my last NASCAR XFINITY Series race for this Richard Childress Racing team, so I was hoping to close out the season on a high note with a win. It wasn’t meant to be. Everything was fine and then all of the sudden, whoa, I could feel a vibration very strong coming from the right side. We ended up making two unscheduled pit stops and went three laps down. It’s a shame but sometimes that’s how it goes.”

– Paul Menard

Ty Dillon Earns a Stage Win and Third-Place Finish in the Rheem Chevrolet at Richmond Raceway

“We started our race just a little bit off, but we got fresh tires on our No. 3 Rheem Chevy during the first caution. I had a fast car under me after that, and  I was able to drive it to a stage win. We battled with the right-rear tire grip in the second stage that was making me loose on entry, but I was still able to maintain my spot in the top five with it. My guys worked on it and worked on it until we finally hit on a great adjustment on our last stop. Our speed was comparable to the top two cars there in that last run, but I got caught up in lapped traffic at the end and fell behind. I wish we could have had more laps in the race to get another pit stop in to go one step further with the final adjustment, but I’m really happy with our night. I’m really proud of my crew chief, Matt Swiderski, and all of the guys on this team. It’s our best finish of the year, and I know that we’ll just keep getting better.”

– Ty Dillon

Daniel Hemric Leads Laps, Earns Fourth Top-Five Finish of 2017 in Blue Gate Bank Chevrolet at Richmond Raceway

“We needed a day like this after a rough few weeks. This was a solid job by everybody on this Blue Gate Bank Chevy. The pit crew did a hell of a job all night. This is the time of the year you want to run well. I feel like we held our own and led some laps. We struggled to get going a bit on the short run, but about halfway through a run this car really came on well. I’m proud of the guys and proud of the effort. We came here trying some new stuff and didn’t know how it was going to race. I felt kind of iffy about it after qualifying, but that’s why Danny Stockman is on the pit box making calls and making this thing drive well in the race and it did that. Ty Dillon got out too far from me in the first 15-20 laps or so, but I was able to close up about half a track on him over the final run. Lapped traffic helped us, but we were definitely better than a lot of the other cars on the backside of a run. We still have to work on the short-run stuff, but I’m proud of how far we came with this thing.”

– Daniel Hemric

Brandon Jones Fights Tough-Handling PhoneSkope Chevy to 23rd-Place Finish at Richmond Raceway

“We had a great No. 33 PhoneSkope Chevrolet during the day, running in the top-five all practice. I was really happy with the handling of the car. Unfortunately, it didn’t transition well over to the nighttime, which was when the race was. It seemed like we chased the handling all night. The car would start free, then snug up during a run and then end it by snapping free. I just couldn’t get the grip I wanted out on the track. It was a tough night for us, we never caught a break and it’s not the finish we needed. We’ll go into Chicago next weekend aiming for the victory. It’s our last shot to make the Playoffs.”

– Brandon Jones

Brendan Gaughan and the South Point Hotel & Casino Team Fight for Stage Points and Finish 21st at Richmond Raceway

“I’ve always said I like to gamble, and that’s what we did tonight.  Shane Wilson and I needed another caution to help us gain the track position we were hoping for to finish the race.  I am pumped up about leading laps at Richmond Raceway, as that’s a big accomplishment for me here, and gaining stage points is what our strategy was all about.  Ultimately, this South Point Hotel & Casino team gave me an awesome Chevy tonight and the pit crew was solid as well.  We will go to Chicago fighting our hardest as the last race before the Playoffs begin.”

– Brendan Gaughan