MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 18, 2018
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in a multi-car accident on lap 101
ARE YOU OKAY?
“Yes, I’m alright. I had such a fast Camaro ZL1 today, and I just wanted a shot there at the end. Tough circumstances. I was just trying to feel Blaney out and see what he was going to do; how aggressive he wanted to be. I had a big push and got light at the wrong time. Didn’t make the right move.”
ARE YOU OKAY AND WHAT HAPPENED?
“Yeah, I’m fine, just unfortunate set of circumstances. I had a big push from Brad (Keselowski) and was trying to do something with it on Ryan (Blaney). I didn’t really expect to get by him. I was kind of feeling him out to see how aggressive he wanted to be and just kind of got light over the transition and was a big push at the wrong time I guess. It happens and we will just move on down the road.”
HOW DISAPPOINTING IS THIS?
“Yeah, very, I hate it. I just wanted to make it to the end and give ourselves a chance, so I hate that we didn’t have that opportunity.”
WAS IT AGGRESSIVE EARLY?
“Yeah, it was. It was really aggressive all day. I hate that… it’s so tough I think that everybody kind of… the safest place to be is out front and everybody wants to be there, that is the problem. I don’t know exactly how you fix that. It just kind of is what it is. I hate it. Disappointing way to end the 500 this afternoon, but we will move on down the road and try to get ‘em in Atlanta.”
YOU WERE MAKING VETERAN MOVES YESTERDAY IN THE XFINITY RACE DID YOU FEEL YOU WERE ABLE TO MOVE AROUND AND MAKE GOOD MOVES TODAY?
“Yeah, you were just not quite as much. I think you’ve got to be able to move around and make moves and take some chances every now and then to win these events. I tried to do that yesterday and wanted to do that later on this afternoon and it just didn’t work out.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 7 GODADDY CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in a multi-car accident on lap 101
WHAT WAS FIRST HALF OF THE RACE LIKE FOR YOU?
“Pretty decent. The car was a lot better than it was in the Duel. It was a lot better than practice. Tony Eury, Jr., my crew chief did an awesome job. The guys on the whole team did a really good job. I know we pulled this together not that long ago, a month ago. That is a tall order to get a car ready for a superspeedway that is competitive. But, it was. I said earlier today that I feel like the whole thing was picture perfect with GoDaddy on the car, and it being that green again. It just wasn’t meant to be today. I am proud-we raced the whole race other than a little bit at the end of that first stage when it looked silly with all the cars with tires and no tires. Other than that, we raced it and the car was competitive. That is all you can do. That is the gamble at Daytona. It can go so well; and it can go so awful. I’m grateful for everything. Thank you to all the fans. Still have one more. It is not a stock car, but still have one more.”
WHAT DID YOU SEE HAPPEN OUT THERE?
“A superspeedway accident. You guys probably know better than me based on a replay, but just a superspeedway accident. That is the way it goes. I’m proud that the car was a lot better handling today than it was in the Duel. I feel like we were competitive. We weren’t the fastest car out there, but the car was competitive. That was important. Not the fastest car, it was definitely lethargic getting up to speed on the starts and when we checked up, but other than that it ran really well. I’m just sad that it ended that way.
“It’s funny Jeff Gordon and I did an SMT for FOX the other day and he said his last Daytona didn’t go well either and I was like ‘oh wow I don’t remember that’, I remember your career, so I hope that is how it is with me with everybody.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 95 PROCORE CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in a multi-car accident on lap 101
“I couldn’t see what happened. I was just on the outside entering the corner and then Chase (Elliott) came across, hit the wall, by the sounds of it in the infield care center, him and Brad (Keselowski) got together, but I didn’t see any of it. Disappointed, our Procore Camaro ZL1 was good, we kept getting back towards the front and then falling, but we were fighting. We had a great car all Speedweeks and get ready for Atlanta.”