MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
ISM RACEWAY
BLUEGREEN VACATIONS 500
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
NOVEMBER 10, 2019
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Playoff Contender)
4th *Kyle Larson, No. 42 Clover Camaro ZL1
11th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1
14th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
16th Chris Buescher, No. 37 Maxwell House Camaro ZL1
17th William Byron, No. 24 Hertz Camaro ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Chevy Playoff Contender)
1st Denny Hamlin (Toyota
2nd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
3rd Ryan Blaney (Ford)
4th *Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
5th Kevin Harvick (Ford)
UNOFFICIAL CURRENT PLAYOFF RANK (Following Round 9 of 10)
POS. DRIVER (* = Chevy Contender)
1. Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2. Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3. Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
4. Kyle Busch (Toyota)
5. Joey Logano (Ford)
6. Ryan Blaney (Ford)
7. *Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
8. *Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday, November 17 at 3:00 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:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th
YOU WERE GOOD TODAY, BUT NOT GREAT. IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF HAVING TO BE GREAT TODAY.
“Yeah, the 11 (Denny Hamlin) had an amazing race car there. So, he would have had been tough to beat. But obviously with that final restart there, everybody felt like they had another chance to try and beat him. I just felt like if I could have lined up on the outside row, I would have had a really good shot. Had I lined up sixth or eighth even, I felt like I would have been in a much better position than starting seventh. It didn’t work out. I restarted on the bottom every time but one today, so that was unfortunate. It’s still a good year for us. It was a little rough in the beginning of the season, but we have rebounded from that, worked hard, got our cars better and our team better. We were battling for a championship. We’ll go to Homestead next week, race and try to get a win.”
YOU TOOK FOUR TIRES THERE ON THE LAST PIT STOP. WAS THERE ANY DISCUSSION TO TAKE NO TIRES OR TWO TIRES?
“Maybe it ran across my mind, but I felt like my best shot would have been on four tires. So, I was happy with that. Like I said, I just wanted four tires and be on the outside lane. But I got half of what I wanted.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EMOTIONS? ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED OR IS THIS A GOOD STEPPING-STONE FOR NEXT YEAR? WHAT’S GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND?
“I would like to battle for a championship next week. We did a good job in the Playoffs; I feel like we’ve learned a lot. We stayed consistent, didn’t get too anxious at times and got good finishes. I think we’ve ran in around the top-10 in every race, but Talladega. It was good. We finished top-10 at Martinsville in the Playoffs, so that was an improvement. We’ll try and be better for next year; get our cars a little bit better for these short tracks and have a better shot.”
INAUDIBLE
“I don’t know. I mean I don’t know what to do exactly for the package. They tried to put the traction compound down and, honestly, to me for at least my car, the other people could make it work. But, for me, it felt like oil up there on the long run. I was not good at all in that. So, I don’t know if it would have been better to just have it normal or what. There’s definitely less passing this year at Phoenix than there has been in previous races.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th
“Just battled with a loose handling car all day. We just couldn’t find the balance that we needed to be competitive. I got penalized for speeding on pit road and that just put us way behind. With no cautions, it was hard to make adjustments or recover the lost track position.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTOCARE CENTER CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined from an accident on lap 166; Finished 39th
IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU ARE OK, AT LEAST PHYSICALLY, I DON’T KNOW ABOUT EMOTIONALLY. EVERYTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG FOR YOU DURING THIS PLAYOFF ROUND DID. HOW TOUGH IS THIS ONE TO SWOLLOW?
“Yeah, it’s just a continuation of our first two weeks, unfortunately. I hate it for our NAPA group. We had a decent NAPA Chevy today. It was really tough in traffic to catch guys and then pass and whatnot. But I feel like we were in a good position to run solid. I’m not sure why we had a tire go down. I think that’s what happened, at least; it seemed like it. It’s unfortunate. Like I said, these last three weeks have been pretty rough. So, hopefully Homestead goes better and we can get prepared good for next season and get a good notebook for next year.”
CAN YOU GIVE US SOME INSIGHT OF THE RACE? IT SEEMED LIKE TRACK POSITION WAS KEY TODAY.
“It certainly seemed that way. You’re racing really hard and it’s like slow motion. It’s just hard to make a lot happen in a little amount of time. You really just have to think about what’s coming and where lapped cars ahead of you are running and where the person in front of you is running if you’re better than he. It’s definitely tough. It was a tough race to that point. I enjoyed racing there towards the end of that stage. I thought we were racing hard. You never want to have a round go like that.”