MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 3, 2019

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
5th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Star Nursery Camaro ZL1
9th Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Camaro ZL1
11th Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1
12th Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1
16th William Byron, No. 24 Hertz Camaro ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Joey Logano (Ford)
2nd Brad Keselowski (Ford)
3rd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
4th Kevin Harvick (Ford)
5th Kurt Busch (Chevrolet)

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at ISM Raceway with the TicketGuardian 500 on Sunday, March 10 at 3:30 pm ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 STAR NURSERY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5TH
REALLY NICE TOP FIVE RUN FOR YOU. TALK ABOUT THE STRATEGY THAT GOT YOU TO THE FINISH:
“Yeah, I was really happy that we were able to stay out long. Around the second stage we didn’t get any stage points today, but it positioned us well to make a run at the checkers and we got fifth today. The power of those first few guys altogether it’s aero, it’s engine, it’s handling and that is what we have to work on. I’m really happy with two top fives to start the year. We are playing it smart. We haven’t had any penalties and we will just keep chipping away at it. So, good day for our Chevy, I think we might be top Chevy again.”

A STRONG EFFORT FROM YOU TODAY. YOU LED 23 LAPS. YOU GOT OFF ON STRATEGY A LITTLE BIT AND YOU WERE TRYING SOME DIFFERENT THINGS. HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THE DAY YOU HAD?
“Yeah, we made one adjustment and I got really tight in traffic. And then our pit strategist was saying if we stay long on the second stage, then we can stay out. So, we worked that. It played out where we got clean air and it completely changed the complexion of the car. And that’s what we have to do. When we’re in clean air, the car is like this. When we’re in dirty air, the car is like that. I’ve got to get it to where its balanced evenly. But it gave us a lot to learn from today and I’m really proud of everybody to get a top five. Hometown track, Star Nursery on board. It gave me chills at one point, but I’m like hey, we’ve got to get the job done. And now we’ve got two top fives to start the year, but we know we’ve got some more work to do.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th
TOP 10 DAY FOR YOU GUYS. HOW MUCH MORE WAS IT OUT THERE FOR YOU?
“Yeah, it really wasn’t anything more than that unfortunately. Definitely a lot better than last week. There were times throughout the day where we were better than that. That run there at the end was one of our worst of the day, I thought, which is never a good way to end it. So, just needed to finish a little stronger and I think we could have been maybe a few spots better. I don’t think we had anything to win, but could have maybe grabbed a few more spots there. Really important to have track position and hard to pass at times. You had to be really good and really think about your passes to get them done. The really fast guys could do it, so it’s not impossible, but definitely have to think through that a little bit.”

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON FULL PACKAGE:
“Yeah, I mean I really don’t care. If it’s entertaining for people to watch, it really does not matter to me a bit. Whatever it is, it is, the rules are the same for everybody and it doesn’t matter to me.”

IT LOOKED LIKE THERE WAS MORE SPEED TODAY THAN LAST WEEK WITHIN THE HENDRICK CAMP:
“Well, I definitely think so. I mean as a whole we ran inside the top 10 the majority of the day and ultimately finished inside the top 10, which is nice. Yeah, a lot better than last week and a step in the right direction. We just have to keep that going. This is a war not a battle, so we have to think about getting better for 38 weeks and we’ve got 35 left. So, better keep pushing and hopefully take another chunk like we did this week next week.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 12TH
YOU GUYS GOT BEHIND FROM THE PENALTY EARLY, BUT YOU WERE ABLE TO FIGHT BACK. WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE TENACITY OF THIS TEAM?
“Yeah, for sure. We fought as much as we could there throughout the race. Just tough when you don’t get any cautions or anything like that. I felt like our car was really good on the long runs. Just the short run, I mean, I felt okay on the short run too, I just didn’t have speed. So, we will have to work on that, but all in all we finished 12th the last few weekends and we should have been a lot better than that. That is positive. We have good handling race cars and just got to get a little bit faster is all and clean up pit road a little bit. You know on my end, I think, I probably messed the guys up a little bit. I just didn’t come in the pit stall hard enough and I think they jumped over too soon. Just got to clean up some things I’m doing, but the cars are decent.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 NATURAL LIGHT NATURDAYS CAMARO ZL1 – FINISHED 18th
“That was a solid day for our Natural Light Naturdays Camaro ZL1. We were a little bit loose to start the run, but the car would come to us as the run went on it would come to us and we had decent speed to gain positions. The guys worked really hard all weekend and it’s a good start to our west coast swing.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 20th
YOU GUYS GOT BEHIND THERE ON THAT PENALTY TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“Yeah, we just struggled executing on pit road all day. Had the early penalty, fought back from it, we over adjusted the car and then decided to run long instead of race the next couple of cars and that put us another lap down at the end. So, it was a bummer. I think we had a top 10 car, just never got the track position we needed. We lost it from the beginning and when you lose it, you can’t ever get it back.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 29th
“There is still a lot left to learn with this new package. There is no doubt about it. Our GEICO Camaro ZL1 is showing speed in practice and in qualifying. As we continue to run with this package, we will be able to make it all come together during the race. We want to have the advantage over the field, so we will keep grinding at the shop and at the track to learn everything we possibly can about the new rules package. I’m proud of this team’s hustle here in Las Vegas, and I’m excited to turn our focus to Phoenix.”