MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
AAA TEXAS 500
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
NOVEMBER 3, 2019
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Playoff Contender)
5th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1
9th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1
12th * KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1
13th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 RIGUP CAMARO ZL1
16th DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 CAT DOZERS CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Chevy Playoff Contender)
1st Kevin Harvick (Ford)
2nd Aric Almirola (Ford)
3rd Daniel Suarez (Ford)
4th Joey Logano (Ford)
5th Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)
UNOFFICIAL CURRENT PLAYOFF RANK (Following Round 8 of 10)
POS. DRIVER (* = Chevy Contender)
1. Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota); Win
2. Kevin Harvick (Ford); Win
3. Kyle Busch (Toyota); +22
4.___Joey Logano (Ford); +20 ________
5. Denny Hamlin (Toyota); -20
6. Ryan Blaney (Ford); -23
7. * Kyle Larson (Chevrolet); -23
8. * Chase Elliott (Chevrolet); -78
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at ISM Raceway with the Bluegreen Vacations 500 on Sunday, November 10 at 2:30 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC, NBC Sports Gold, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
“We started really tight and we made good adjustments throughout the day. Obviously, once the sun went down, the car got a lot better and we were pretty solid. I wish we could have had a little more track position and our strategy go our way a little more there at the end. But we definitely had a really good car today. It was just really tough to pass, but the guys did a good job. We came through the field a couple of times and had a good day.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th
“I think we just need to stay positive on this with our Monster Chevy and we finished ninth. We were running second and had everything under control and the yellow came out right after we pitted and it locked us a lap down. It’s just tough to be on the back side of that circumstance and to be locked back there in 20th with only 90 (laps) to go. It’s tough to make that back up. Our car had really good speed. I was really happy with the balance the second half of the race. And all-in-all, it just wasn’t the Top 5 effort that we needed but we’ll take ninth.”
WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF THE TRACTION COMPOUND AT THE TOP OF THE TRACK? SOME WERE SLIPPING, BUT YOU DIDN’T LOSE YOUR GRIP ON IT.
“They don’t need to spray it that heavy right before the race starts. That just throws away everybody’s set-ups and it’s too inconsistent to start and with too many guys having trouble that are quality cars, it shows that the surface wasn’t prepped right.”
THERE WAS A QUESTIONABLE SPIN BY BUBBA WALLACE. IT LOOKED LIKE IT AFFECTED BOTH YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATE, KYLE LARSON. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THAT INCIDENT INVESTIGATED FURTHER?
“We won Kentucky earlier this year when the No. 43 (Wallace) spun on the same spot. He had an axel problem a couple of weeks ago. My spotter said 200 feet before he spun, he had a flat tire. So, if you have a flat tire, it’s kind of hard to hold on to your car.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 12th
NOT THE FINISH YOU WERE HOPING FOR. YOU WERE DEALING WITH SOME THINGS THERE LATE IN THE RACE. WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH THE RACE CAR?
“I’m not really sure yet. But it was just vibrating really bad and it lost a lot of speed. So, something happened. But what really killed our race was the No. 43 (Bubba Wallace) spinning on purpose. They put us a lap down. I think we were up to fourth at that point. It really killed us and a few others. You hate to see that and be affected by it, but it is what it is. There’s nothing you can do about it now. We’ll try and go to Phoenix and get a win. I don’t really know who is in front of us. I feel like we had a good shot to win up until the No. 43 spun in front of us.”
WITH ONE RACE TO TRY TO GET TO MIAMI, DID YOU SEE SOME THINGS EITHER THROUGH PRACTICE OR QUALIFYING OR THE RACE THAT GIVE YOU A POSITIVE OUTLOOK GOING INTO NEXT WEEK’S RACE?
“Well, I felt like once the traction compound came in today, I was really fast; probably the best on top, for sure. Next week they’re going to be doing it at Phoenix as well. I hope that opens up some lanes for me. I feel like there’s nobody better at finding different lanes and things like that to find speed. So, hopefully it lends to benefit us because we need to get a win. We can do it. I’ve been close to winning there before. So, we’ve just got to work hard.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 RIGUP CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 13th
“We put up a good fight tonight in the No. 3 RigUp Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway. We came up from the back three times, which is a testament to the amount of speed we had in these Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets. I think we could have ended up with a top-10 finish if a few more things would have just went our way. We’re working hard to make our cars respond better in traffic, and we’re learning a lot as a team. We’ll be in a strong position for 2020. I want to thank RigUp for their support this weekend.”
DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 CAT DOZERS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 16th
“Everyone on this No. 8 Cat Dozers Chevrolet team fought all day and never gave up. We were just way too tight to start the race, then we had a piece of debris wrap around the splitter and cover the right-side air duct, which really hurt the handling. I hate we lost that whole run to adjust on the car and make it better, because when we did get a chance to work on it and wave around, we were sitting in a position to have a good day. I feel like we just needed one more caution to be on equal tires with everyone ahead of us and fighting on the lead lap, it just didn’t work out. I’m proud of everyone on this No. 8 Cat Dozers Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team. We love to fight another day and we’ll go on to Phoenix to do just that.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Sustained damage from an accident on lap 9; Finished 32nd
“I made a mistake, got loose and crashed. I really hate that happened. Obviously, it’s not good and not what you’re looking for. It’s just my mistake and there’s really no excuse for it. It’s just all eyes on Phoenix.”
HAS ANYONE HAD A CRAZIER PLAYOFF RUN THAN YOU WITH THE HIGHS AND THE LOWS?
“I’m not sure. Obviously, today was very self-inflicted. I made a mistake that there’s really no excuse for and that’s what you get. You make mistakes, you put yourself in a bad position and that was all on me today. I hate that it happened, but it did and we’ll just go onto Phoenix and try to get a win out there.”
DO YOU JUST TAKE IT RACE TO RACE? YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT NOW.
“That’s right, you can’t do anything about it now. Onward.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHANCES AT PHOENIX?
“I feel a lot better about it than I did today. So, I look forward to getting out there.”