MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 18, 2018

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1
3rd CHASE ELLIOTT, NO 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1
8th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1
9th JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1
12th RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 BASS PRO SHOPS/CABELA’S CAMARO ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Kurt Busch (Ford)
2nd Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
3rd Chase Elliott (Chevrolet
4th Joey Logano (Ford)
5th Eric Jones (Toyota)

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season takes a break next weekend and resumes at Darlington Speedway with the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Sunday, September 2nd at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd
WAS THERE ANY TIRE ADVANTAGE ON TRACK POSITION THERE AT THE END?
“I think if I had a better car, tires probably would have showed what they are really capable of. This was just a really frustrating day. Our DC Solar Chevy was not very good from lap 1 to lap 500 there, but we fought and got a second place finish out of it. So, I was happy about running second, but just disappointed because I had a lot of confidence going into this race and thought our car was really good. But, we were probably a 12th to 15th-place car, I thought. Just lined up in the right re-starts just about every time and was able to gain some spots on every re-start and maintain. And then would be terrible there towards the end of the run. Frustrating, but we were able to fight; so that’s good for our team to be able to do that. Our pit stops, aside from the first one, were really good. So, I’m happy about that that. So, we’ll just continue to fight to get our cars a lot better.”

HOW FRUSTRATING WAS IT TONIGHT GIVEN THE RAIN AND THE CHANGING CONDITIONS?
“The track seemed to change a little bit. My car was bad, like I said, so maybe it was my balance I was changing, but it seemed like the top would be good in a run and then the bottom would be good in another run. I don’t know. A lot of guys seemed really fast, but had a lot of troubles. But, I was falling back wherever I ran.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 3rd
DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING THERE AT THE END?
“Yeah, not quite enough of something. I don’t know, just got tight there after the run that we had the lead and once we got it freed back up, but we kept getting the bottom on all the restarts and it was just hard to go forward and what not. But, man, that thing was really fast there at the end. It felt like we were making up some ground on those guys.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th
YOU STARTED DEEP IN THE FIELD, HAD A LOOSE TIRE AND STILL RALLIED FOR A TOP 10 FINISH:
“Yeah, we had a really good race car, just had that loose wheel and lost those two laps. Almost got the lap back under green and that would have probably have gotten us a couple more spots there, but still got it back through wave arounds and lucky dog. Just proud of my guys, we had a good race car, but the car was good.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS RUN FOR YOU?
“Not to lose points and just to have like a good solid day is always good. I don’t even know who finished in front of us, it looks like we beat all the people we need to beat, so keep making headway.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th
TOP 10 FINISH FOR YOU, BUT YOU WERE THERE MIXING IT UP MOST OF THE NIGHT CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY?
“We had a decent night. I guess the No. 41 (Kurt Busch) won by staying out. We kind of lined up on the inside and felt like we had to come in for new tires with 20 to go or something. Just a solid night. We will take it. Of course, we want more, but it was nice to have a good consistent run all night long.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 BASS PRO SHOPS/CABELA’S CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 12th
“Our Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Camaro ZL1 had speed this weekend. Unfortunately, qualifying didn’t go as planned but I wasn’t too concerned about it because our practices went well. Once the race started we battled tight and loose conditions, but by halfway, we were balanced fairly well. The biggest issue we had was being able to maneuver through all the rubber on the track. Our Chevy either plowed or shook itself loose. I think we’re all looking forward to the off weekend so we can recharge and get ready for Darlington. It’s my favorite race on the Cup schedule and I want to win it for so many reasons. We’ve got to win to get into the Playoffs.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 21st
“Bristol is called The Last Great Colosseum for a reason. It’s a battle every single time you race here. Tonight, wasn’t the night we had hoped for. My GEICO Camaro ZL1 struggled through the corners on both ends, and we just couldn’t find the balance that we needed. This team is working hard week in and week out to get better. We are going to keep making gains and building on the data we’re collecting.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1- Finished 23rd
“We had something go wrong early on and just were off the pace the whole time. It was disappointing. I thought we were going to have a good day, but something went wrong. We will figure it out.”

DARRELL ‘BUBBA’ WALLACE, JR., NO. 43 MEDALLION BANK/PETTY’S GARAGE CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in a multi-car accident on lap 2
WHAT HAPPENED?
“It just felt like an ARCA wreck. I hit the No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) before my spotter called it I had run into the back of the No. 47, but then I got checked-up enough to pull down out line and just kept getting shoved into cars. It’s unfortunate. I was super excited to run tonight and see how we stacked up, but fate had other plans.”

MORE ON THE INCIDENT:
“I just got run over from behind after I got checked up. I was talked to AJ (Allmendinger) in there (the infield care center) and said ‘sorry man, I run over you at the beginning.’ He was like ‘no, you are fine.’ He said he was sitting there for a solid second and a half and got run over again. Just poor spotting up top and some rookie drivers out back I guess.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in a multi-car accident on lap 2
WHAT HAPPENED?
“They all crashed in front of me and I got run into from behind and that was about it.”

NEVER EVEN GOT STARTED HOW WILD WAS THAT?
“At this point, it is what it is. I’m just sorry for Kroger Clicklist and everybody that is partners with this race team. I appreciate the hard word out of everybody and all of our partners. We had a lot of Kroger Clicklist guest here. We had a lot of just partners in general, Bush’s Beans home race, so hopefully, Chris (Buescher) can get a strong run, but I’m ready for an off week.”