KANSAS CITY, Kans. — Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway:
Ross Chastain — Winner: “This is incredible! To drive into victory lane in the Cup Series, it’s just so challenging. It’s so tough. That process I talked about last year in Nashville, we all stayed on it. We haven’t gone anywhere. We keep showing up. It’s not easy when you’re failing or struggling at something, and you just can’t get to where you want to get to.”
William Byron — Finished 2nd: “I think just him being able to get out front and control his pace definitely helped. Just kind of being stuck in his dirty air, it seemed like the top got really dominant there at the very end. The shade just started creeping in and it was just hard to work other lanes. That is probably some of it, but just a little bit here and there. Had a good restart and that was nice to go from third to second and to be able to chase him down, but just needed a little more.”
Martin Truex Jr. — Finished 3rd: “I just didn’t quite get the restart I needed or the help on the restart that I needed. Just not quite good enough on the short runs all day on the restarts. It took us 10 to 15 laps to get going. A couple of those guys could get by us, so that’s kind of what happened there. The 1 (Ross Chastain) and the 24 (William Bryon) got away and then we were catching them back, but just ran out of time.”
Ryan Blaney — Finished 4th: “We definitely have some things we have to work on, for sure. Having a loose wheel and having to come in under green there. A couple of things we have to address. Overall, at the end of the day, I thought our car was really good. I kind of fenced it there after we came out of the pits after the loose wheel and I think I kind of hurt it a little bit. Our long-run car was great. I think we were better when the temp was up a little bit and I could kind of run the bottom of three and four really well because guys were slipping. At the end I think it cooled off a little and that advantage kind of went away. All in all, it was a good day. We caught a break with the caution. I am proud of the fast cars and we just have to clean a couple of things up.”
Ty Gibbs — Finished 5th: “We had a really fast Monster Energy Camry. I feel like we were pretty solid and in the top five most of the day. Just needed a little bit more to compete up front for the win and have the strategy kind of go our way. I feel like we were pretty solid and just needed a little bit more.”
Alex Bowman — Finished 6th: We have had a little better pace in the playoffs than where we were prior, and it’s made my job a little easier. So, yeah, we are not perfect by any means, and we have got a lot of things we need to improve on. But we are kind of headed in the right direction right now and doing the right things.”
Christopher Bell — Finished 7th: “They brought the heat, that’s for sure. I don’t know. Just obviously wish I had a couple corners back because there were a couple of them where I made mistakes and let a lot of track position go. Yeah, to come back and finish seventh after getting mired back in the back is something that is good but definitely left what could’ve been.”
Denny Hamlin — Finished 8th: “It was just a crappy day on pit road, and we didn’t get the finish that we deserved. This is a great opportunity to lock ourselves in and instead we’re scraping and clawing to finish in the top 10. We lost 15 spots on pit road and had the fastest car. We came in fourth and came out 15th or 20th or something like that and you can only pass so many.”
Chase Elliott — Finished 9th: “We just had an uphill battle all day. I really thought out No. 9 UniFirst Chevy was pretty good. We were able to move forward a long ways it seemed like. Since we had a bad pit pick, ultimately it just puts you in a bad position to lose spots on pit road. It just seemed like we would get a bunch of spots on the track, and then lose a bunch of spots on pit road. We tried to claw our way back up into the top-10, so it was nice to at least get that far.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 12th: “Solid effort today by our Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet team at Kansas Speedway. We started off extremely tight, which was confusing because a lot the field was complaining about a loose-handling car. We lost track position early in the race when we took advantage of a caution to pit for tires and make handling adjustments. We made up as much ground as we could on the restarts to gain track position and crew chief Justin Alexander worked hard all race to continue to improve our Chevy. At the end of stage 2, we took a big swing at the setup and found speed. We were able to race our way into the top 10 during the final stage before ultimately finishing 12th. We’re not sure what caused our car to be so tight, but we will get it back to the shop, diagnose what went on with the car and come back stronger.”
Daniel Suarez — Finished 13th: “Our No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevy was pretty good yesterday, but today, we just missed it. We couldn’t make the front turn on the short runs, and we were way too free on the long runs. We just struggled with the balance all day. We didn’t feel very good. It was a decent finish, but I definitely feel like our Chevy had much more potential.”
Joey Logano — Finished 14th: We went from a winning car to being wrecking loose like someone hit a light switch. I don’t know why or what, but we had something that we could win with early and then we were out of control loose and trying not to wreck. It beats me. I don’t understand it. At least we scored good stage points in the first stage but we got nothing the second stage, unfortunately. We battled back from that loose wheel and got back to 14th. We just have to go to Talladega and be solid again. It isn’t going to be a comfortable next two weeks, that’s for sure.”
Ryan Preece — Finished 16th: “We had a good car, the track loosened up big time and we lost a lot of track position. Ultimately it was frustrating because that is where you need help on the other side, and we were losing it on all ends. That last run we finally got our car back to where it needed to be, but we were just too far back by that time.”
Noah Gragson — Finished 18th: “It was an up and down day but I am super proud of where we started to what we got the balance to. Drew made some good calls on the box. I felt like we were good the second to last and third to last run. We kept the car the same and it just was a little tighter there on the last run. I know it isn’t a great finish but I am proud of the weekend as a whole and how we worked together as a team and I am just grateful for the opportunity.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 19th: “I am sure (Chase Briscoe) was racing to stay on the lead lap with whoever was in front of him there. Granted they have a race to run, but back in the old days when you were under 30 to go or whatever it was, lap traffic would kind of lay over and give you a lane and let the leaders race. I just wasn’t getting that, so I tried to force my hand into getting that and get to his outside, and for whatever reason, it just gave all the air in all the wrong places and I spun out.”
Daniel Hemric — Finished 20th: “That was fun! Our No. 31 South Point Chevy showed a ton of speed today. After breaking a toe link and hitting the wall, the damage affected the maneuverability a bit, but I’m super proud of the No. 31 guys for staying focused and fighting to get back on the lead lap so we could compete in the final stage.”
Ty Dillon — Finished 21st: “Solid effort to rebound after an early-race caution and run the entire race with no rear quarter panel. Our FitRx Camaro had the speed, we just didn’t have a full car today. We had to rebuild the car and fight from a lap down, but I’m proud of the effort the team put in today. Definitely learned a few things we can take into next season and hit the ground running.”
Chase Briscoe — Finished 24th: “I don’t know if we ever touched. I haven’t seen it still but these cars are so sensitive when you are off to the right. I couldn’t really run on the wall so I was trying to give him a car width and a couple inches and saw him get loose as soon as he got to my right rear. It didn’t feel like I was trying to do anything. I literally left him the top lane. These cars as soon as you get off to the right, especially here when you are running the wall, they just get really loose. I hate it for him. He has been so close all year long and I am a Kyle Busch fan and wanted to see him win to keep the streak alive. I hate that we are a part of the conversation. That was a really bad day for us. It was not what we needed, and certainly not what we wanted. We will go to work. We are 25 out but we can still do it, it just wasn’t the day we wanted, for sure.”
Tyler Reddick — Finished 25th: “I guess for me it comes to just performance. For a month straight, we haven’t been that great, but we have two weeks to figure it out. That restart was a lot of it. That’s just part of it. When you have really good cars you can make incredible moves on restarts and when things aren’t just going the way you want them to inside the race car it’s really easy to have a big mistake and that’s what ultimately cost us our finish.”
Kyle Larson — Finished 26th: “It was just a long day for our No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team. Our team did a really good job fighting and clawing to get better where we ended up. I was just really tight there on that last restart and gave up everything. I wish it would have just went green to the end, instead of having those couple cautions. It is what it is, but we’ll regroup and move on to Talladega.”
Austin Cindric — Finished 34th: “It was a really frustrating result. I thought the team did a really great job with adjustments overnight and we had a really fast car today and just took ourselves out of it on pit road. Obviously we had some contact on the back straightaway and I took us out of the race, really. That is unacceptable for the position we are in and especially with the speed we have had in the car. I am pretty bummed about all that. I think the next two weeks are weeks we can go have great races but we definitely won’t be able to get this one back. It makes our goals a little more clear going into Talladega and the Roval.”
Josh Berry — Finished 38th: “That was an experience like none other. Obviously, we got clipped and spun, and we had four flat tires. I assumed they were going to tow the car to the pits, which is what I was asking for, and then they dropped my window net and told me to get out. Rodney (Childers) told me to stay in because all we needed was tires. They were telling me to get out. Then they towed me into the campground, so I was just out there chilling with the fans. At that point, they said they had to get a rollback, and they finally made me get out. Rodney was trying to talk to somebody and couldn’t get anybody on the phone. I don’t know what I am missing. I have seen plenty of cars get towed to the pits and get tires put on, so I don’t know if I am missing something or if there was something different than normal, but that was an experience for sure. They said the tire was off the wheel, which it is flat so of course it is off the wheel. They just refused to tow the car. They tried hooking it up on both ends which I knew wasn’t going to work. I don’t know why they didn’t just hook it up with the rear and tow it to the pit box and let us get tires on it. That is disappointing.”