NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CHEEZ-IT 355 AT THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 7, 2016
AJ ALLMENDINGER EARNS FOURTH FOR TEAM CHEVY AT THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – (August 7, 2016) – AJ Allmendinger piloted his No. 47 Kroger/Kingsford Chevrolet SS to a fourth-place finish to take top honors for Team Chevy in the Cheez-It 355 Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. Allmendinger’s first and only Sprint Cup Series win came at the 2.45-mile track in 2014. Known for his road course prowess and a favorite to win today’s race, the California native was penalized for speeding on pit road early in the 90-lap event, but rallied late in the race to earn his second top five finish of the season.
Tony Stewart, No. 14 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS, ended his final Watkins Glen race as a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver in the third position. Jamie McMurray, drove the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS to an eighth-place finish, his sixth top 10 effort of the season thus far.
Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevrolet SS, Casey Mears, No. 13 Geico Chevrolet SS, Chase Elliott, No. 24 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet SS and Jeff Gordon, interim driver for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS finished 11th – 15th respectively, to give Team Chevy seven of the top 15 finishers overall.
Denny Hamlin (Toyota) was the race winner, Joey Logano (Ford) was second, and Brad Keselowski (Ford) was third to round out the top five finishers.
Next weekend the series takes a well-deserved break before heading to Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night August 20th.
POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER/KINGSFORD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 4TH
ON THE RACE:
“Ah long, cost us a couple of times there. Cost us down pit road on speeding there and I just tried to fight back and just trying to get everything I could. Our last corner there, racing with Kyle (Larson) I just… I can’t sorry enough. It doesn’t help the case, I spun him out. I didn’t mean to spin him out. The No. 78 was spinning and I was starting to get my nose under Kyle to try to drag race him to the checkered. He was turning to come back down, but it was my fault. For fourth place it would be different if we were battling for the win, but I just hate it for him. It’s not going to help to say sorry, I know, I would be pissed off. He should be. I was going to be okay with that until that.”
YOU HAD CONTACT WITH KYLE LARSON IN THAT LAST CORNER. WHAT HAPPENED THERE FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW?
“I turned him. Not on purpose. The No. 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) started to spin and Kyle and I were racing for fifth there. He defended on the inside, which he should have. And I tried to cut under him off of the last corner and the No. 78 was coming back across the race track. I was under him. He turned. And I just clipped him. I’m just not very happy with myself on that. I don’t want to do that, especially for fourth place. And he did a great job. It’s on me. I never meant to do it. It’s not going to help the case. I know he’s going to be pissed off and he should be pissed off. I’d be. I can’t thank everybody at Kroger and Kingsford and all of our partners. I definitely cost us a chance to win this race. I tried to give everything I had to get it back. I was going to be pretty happy with the drive back until I did that in the last corner.”
YOU PUT PRESSURE ON YOURSELF TO GET A WIN TO GET IN THE CHASE. COMING OUT OF HERE WITH A FOURTH PLACE FINISH, DO YOU FIND SOME SOLACE IN THAT?
“I would have been okay except for the last corner. I cost us down pit road. I sped. And I fought hard to get back and restarts, I was aggressive, but I was going to be okay with that. I don’t want to race like that. If we’re going for the win, it’s all good. But not like that. I just cost Kyle a good finish. I’m just pissed off at myself.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 5TH
DO YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT WHAT YOU BROUGHT TO WATKINS GLEN ON YOUR FINAL RUN?
“Yeah, we got some breaks there at the end. But our Haas Automation Chevy was really good. And that’s the great thing about Mobil 1, it helps with fuel mileage for sure, and that’s what got us the track position in the end. It is so chaotic here. You get under 10 laps and get restarts; you know it’s going to be a crash-fest there. But we were able to survive and got through a couple of them and got a couple of spots there coming to the line. I’ll take a top 5 here in the last run.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 8TH
ON HIS RACE:
“We had a really good car. We qualified well and the first run I thought we had a fifth to eighth place car, pretty good. I got blocked in on my last pit stop and lost about 20 spots. We did fuel only and we were the 43rd stall. Somebody was coming in and I had to stop. We lost a lot of track position. Honestly, the last couple of laps I probably could have held off the No. 47 and No. 18, but you are kind of point’s racing right now. It looked like they got the No. 42. It was a really good point’s day for us though because a few guys had bad days.”
IT WAS A SOLID FINISH FOR YOU TODAY
“Yeah, our McDonald’s Chevy was actually really good today. I was a little worried after practice, but we qualified well. And when we came in and did our fuel and they stopped and I left, somebody else was coming in and I had to stop. So, I lost about 10 or 12 spots there. But, I was glad to make it to the end. The No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) got underneath me into (Turn) 1. I probably could have race him, but I knew that he would be pushing harder than most. And we’re in the position now with the Chase coming up, that you have to get all the points that you can. And to get wrecked and to lose 15 point on the last lap is not worth it. But it was a really good day for the McDonald’s Chevy.”
YOU MENTIONED THE CHASE AND BEING CONSERVATIVE. HOW DO YOU BALANCE THAT, ESPECIALLY AT A PLACE THAT’S CRAZY LIKE THIS, BETWEEN DECIDING TO GO FOR POSITION OR TAKING THE POINTS YOU GOT?
“Well, I wish I knew. I wish I knew how that worked. It’s just really crazy here on the restarts. And when it got spread out on one of those runs, I was thrilled with where we were at because the restarts are crazy. And out of the groove here it’s so slick. And I don’t know that you can appreciate that on TV. When I watched the (Xfinity) race yesterday, it doesn’t look that fast. But in the car, it’s one of the fastest feelings that we have. And the restarts are just out of control.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 11TH
ON HIS RACE:
“We didn’t quite time the final pit stop to our advantage. We ended up behind and then too many restarts and yellow flags at the end. There is no way to get caught up. I didn’t drive aggressive enough and the strategy didn’t play out, but the car was underneath us we just got put in a hole.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, NO. 95 THRIVENT FINANCIAL CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 17TH
“The team did a great job all weekend. We had a good qualifying effort with an 11th place starting spot for the race. The race result was solid but not entirely what we wanted. We’ve progressed a lot in the past few weeks as a team and the results are starting to show. Thanks to Thrivent Financial for their support and we’re looking forward to Bristol in two weeks.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 29TH
THE START OF THE DAY GOT PROMISING BUT IT GOT REALLY ROUGH AT THE END. TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“We were about a 10th place car and we were going to get a top five day out of it. We were running sixth coming to (Turn) 7; the No. 47 was behind me. He is always aggressive. I figured he would be smart. Obviously, the No. 78 was spinning in front of us. That is a free spot for both of us and just dumped me. He had already ran me down to the front stretch wall once with about 15 to go or so. Pretty dumb move right there too, but I was the smarter one racing for points, lifted, could have wrecked him, but didn’t. I don’t know. I don’t know. He wrecked me earlier in the year at Vegas. He has ran me hard, but we always race pretty well, but today was flat out stupid. I love his crew chief (Randall Burnett) to death; he was our engineer last year. It just sucks they are going to have to start building some more race cars because he has got a few coming.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUSCH BEER CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash on lap 83
WHAT HAPPENED, AND HOW DID YOU END UP BACK IN THE FIELD TO BEGIN WITH?
‘Yeah, I started getting checked-up and I think the No. 23 (David Ragan) hit me from behind and we all just kind of piled in there. Everybody on our Busch team did a great job today. I was battling some brake issues and just trying to maintain the brakes, but they got me great track position and up in the front. And then, coming to the yellow that one time, I got into the Speedy Dry and the front tire locked-up and we had to pit. But, we had it where we needed to be. We just got back there and we got tore up.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Involved in multi-car crash on lap 53
IT’S BEEN A ROUGH DAY FOR YOU, WHICH IS ONE OF THE REASONS YOU WERE BACK IN THE PACK. WHAT DID YOU SEE?
“Yeah, we had a rough first pit stop and then we were just kind of biding our time and trying to get on a fuel strategy that could benefit us. The cars started checking up in front of me and they all moved out of the way and the No. 17 (Ricky Stenhouse) was sitting there, stopped. I remember seeing a door number and I was so thankful it was the passenger-side door and not the driver-side door because I plowed him. I really hit the car hard. I was afraid that I might have injured him. But, thankfully he’s okay and everybody is all right. It’s unfortunate for this Jimmie Johnson Foundation car and a big thank you once again, to Lowe’s for letting us run that paint scheme on the car. I guess we got them some on-camera exposure today, but not the kind we wanted.”