CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
CATSPOT NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS
PACIFIC RACEWAYS IN KENT, WASHINGTON
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
SUNDAY, AUG. 5, 2018

An interview with Pro Stock winner TANNER GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, VALVOLINE GRAY MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fourth victory of season and ninth of career in 40 races; first win at Pacific Raceways; second in points):

THAT WAS A CRAZY FINAL AGAINST DERIC KRAMER
“We went out there and it tried to shake on me but I was able to keep pulling gears and get down there. Luckily, Deric went red. Definitely kind of a lucky win, but I’ll take them any way I can get them. I can’t thank the guys enough for giving me a consistent race car today. Everyone from Chevy and Valvoline, everybody who supports us I can’t thank them enough.”

TELL US ABOUT YOUR WEEKEND
“All in all, it was a good day. We unloaded off the trailer better and was able to qualify a little better than we have recently. Then (crew chief) Dave (Connolly) and the rest of the guys gave us a pretty consistent car all day right to the final. We kind of got messed up with not getting lane choice over Deric going to the final, but we got lucky and I’ll take it any day.”

NEARLY A 25 PERCENT WINNING PERCENTAGE. DOES THAT LEND MORE TO YOU OR TO THE TEAM?
“Definitely to the team. Equipment is everything out here. Drivers obviously play apart but look at Deric Kramer. He didn’t have the equipment basically his whole career and comes in this year and you’re scared to race the dude now. And he’s doing a fantastic job driving and has stepped up and surprised me. I didn’t realize he was as good as he was on the Tree. So I think that goes to show that when you have good equipment behind you it makes you drive better and everything else, so it’s definitely the team that’s gotten me to where I am today. They’ve worked with me through the mistakes I’ve made and I have a couple of driver coaches with (crew chief) Dave (Connolly) and my dad (Shane Gray) and my grandpa (Johnny Gray) when he puts his advice in.”

HOW WILL YOU SPEND YOUR WEEKEND OFF?
“The next time I’ll be back in an Outlaw car will be at Milbridge trying to win a ride for the Chili Bowl, so that will be the next time I run anything but this. I’m looking forward to getting back and hanging out. Today is my dog’s birthday, so I’m going to go back and hang out with him.”

TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK COOLANT & MOTOR OIL MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 8 qualifier; fell in first round): “This team is still struggling a little bit. We have two more races before the Countdown is on and we have to hang in there. We’re eighth right now, but we really have to go some rounds the next two races to make sure we’re safe in there, and then it’s time to hit hard in that Countdown. We get a weekend off before going into Brainerd, where we’ve had luck there. We’ve won there before and we always seem to do really well there. Maybe that will be our weekend. We did improve this weekend in qualifying. We made three out of four awesome runs, so that’s always a positive. Race day, I think we could have had a good run but drove it out of the groove a little bit and that’s where it went up in tire smoke and couldn’t seem to catch (Richie) Crampton.”

FUNNY CAR:
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier; fell in final round): “A great day in Seattle, closing out the Swing for the Advance Auto Parts team. We fought hard to try to finish off the Western Swing with a win so we could sweep it for John Force Racing. We came close and I’m just feeling really good with the fact that we picked up a lot of bonus points, qualified in the No. 3 spot going into the race, and have found a lot of consistency with this race car. We struggled a little with that through the Swing and it feels good that we have it figured out. We can move forward to Brainerd and feel good about the race car that we have. Our Chevy Camaro has been flying and we had a solid car all day long. The final round we had him covered. We hurt a piston and the pan pressure shut us off and he went by us for the win, but it was still a good day for everybody at Advance Auto Parts, for Chevrolet, PEAK, Monster Energy, Auto Club, PPG – all of our sponsors. We’re going to turn our focus to Brainerd and leave here feeling positive.”

JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK COOLANT & MOTOR OIL CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 10 qualifier; fell in first round): “We have a lot of work to do to get this PEAK Chevrolet ready for the Countdown. We’re up there in the Countdown, still eighth. We’re holding our own with two races to go. I’d like to win Brainerd or Indy to get that 150th (career win). I know I act like it isn’t a big deal, but it really is. And I’d like to focus on winning the championship when I get to the Countdown.”

ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier; fell in second round): “This Auto Club Chevy ran low ET of race day first round. That was killer. We just didn’t back it down enough second round, we were a little too aggressive. We’re learning still but, the good news is the performance is there. We just need to get some consistency. When we get it right, I feel we are going to be quicker than the rest of them. We’re going to Norwalk this weekend for Night Under Fire so we’ll get to do some testing, some learning. That’s how you get better so I’m excited for that. Then we roll into Brainerd and we need to put a win on the board before we get to Indy.”

PRO STOCK:
GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier; fell in second round): “During routine engine maintenance between rounds, I somehow overlooked something and didn’t get the rocker arm tightened down. I started the car up and thought, oh man, this doesn’t sound right. I did the burnout and thought well, maybe it’s alright. It wasn’t. One cylinder was dead. It didn’t hurt anything, it just cost me the round. 100 percent Greg Anderson error. You can’t make mistakes. I apologize to all the guys on the crew and all the people at Summit Racing and Chevrolet, because I made a rookie error. I had a fast car coming into today, and it should have been a great day of racing. I pulled the rug out from under myself, but if you’re going to win races and championships, that can’t happen.”

JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier; fell in second round): “My Summit Racing Chevy Camaro ran well. I had a good enough car to win, I just made a mistake driving and it cost me. You have to be perfect right now to win, and I wasn’t. But my car was good enough to win, and there were a lot of things that went right this weekend. Just one little thing went wrong, but we certainly had a car that can win. That’s all you can ask for.”

BO BUTNER, BUTNER AUTO, JIM BUTNER AUTO SALES CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 7 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “Today was great. Winning first round was huge because it helps us to stay in the Countdown. Winning second round was a bonus. We had some lucky rounds though, and we still want to get our car better. I kind of screwed up myself there third round, but we still have to get our car happy. I have no doubt this team can do it – they’re trying really hard. It’s just a matter of time, and things are getting better every race.”

DREW SKILLMAN, RAY SKILLMAN MOTORSPORTS, RAY SKILLMAN AUTO GROUP CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 11 qualifier; fell in first round): “Pro Stock can be a nightmare. We have all the power we need, but if you miss anything it makes a huge difference. You miss the clutch by a couple of grams or miss the shock adjustment, it just sucks. You can have a really great car one weekend and then not touch it and it sucks at the next race. It’s the most frustrating thing I’ve ever done. We’ve just been in a slump, which happens. I feel like we’re really close.”

MATT HARTFORD, HARTFORD RACING, ROTTLER/TOTAL SEAL CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 12 qualifier; fell in first round): “Coming into the Western Swing I thought we still had a chance at the Countdown, but we needed Jason (Line) and (Deric) Kramer to have a couple of bad races, and they’ve had really good races. That kinda put an end to those hopes. We’ve stunk the last few races, but we’re going to fix that. It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve been out here beating in the fire to do well, but at least we’ve seen the other side now.”