Here’s what the drivers had to say after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway:
Austin Cindric – Winner: “Honestly, I’m heartbroken for Team 12. I don’t know what happened to them at the end of the race, but they deserved to win this race. Ryan has been a great leader on this team. This weekend was a great weekend for everyone involved. To have two cars in the fight and eventually a one-two there, like I said, I’m heartbroken for those guys, but this is huge for me. This is huge for this team. I’m very happy that I was able to get a win with Brian as my crew chief in the Cup Series. You never know when it will happen again. “I just pushed myself and hoped for the best.”
WWT Raceway results: Austin Cindric wins after Ryan Blaney runs out of fuel while leading
“Austin Cindric breaks 85-race winless drought”.
Denny Hamlin – Finished 2nd: “We had a car in the top five; We didn’t have the best today, but the Yahoo Camry was in the mix and was able to capitalize on some misfortunes of others there. We were going to have a top five day anyway, but proud of the team. They did a great job on pit road: Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) and the team brought a great car, but it wasn’t enough.”
Brad Keselowski – Finished third: “That was the strategy. We probably fell behind early, but we kept putting ourselves in position to keep moving forward and I wish I could have come second, but it was a hard fought day for everyone in the Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang. We will surely get a good boost from this.”
Tyler Reddick – Finished 4th: “A difficult first stop. I slipped a little and slowed everyone in the 45-person pit crew. We came in eighth and came out 28th. It took the whole race to recover from that, just a great effort from the guys. I feel like we were there with (Austin Cindric) to start the race, so obviously, it’s a little bummer that we had that problem, but that’s the name of the game when you come to World Wide. Technology Raceway – you have to have a clean race and unfortunately we didn’t do that.”
Joey Logano – Finished 5th: “We weren’t very far away. We were just a few tweaks away from getting our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang as good as our teammates were, but not as bad. We were able to score some points, which we need to do, and a Penske car made it to Victory Lane, so you have to be happy about that. Obviously, we’d prefer it to be us, but that impulse spreads throughout the store. It’s still a good day. Even today we have added many points with stage points in both stages. A bad effort in qualifying, which probably hurt us a little when it came to fine-tuning the car and left us a little weak.”
Austin Dillon – Finished 6th: “That was a great race for this team. I wasn’t expecting it after practice, but the guys made some great adjustments and our No. 3 DOW/Rivers are Life Chevy, with Ducks Unlimited on the side of the car, was really solid all day, even in traffic. “It was just a solid day for the No. 3 Chevy team that we really needed.”
Christopher Bell – Finished 7th: “I have no idea what happened. Some kind of engine problem. I’m surprised I made it to the end. I’m glad I was able to salvage something from this. It’s not often you find racing cars like that. Whenever you do, you should take advantage of it. Disappointing day ”.
Carson Hocevar – Finished 8th: “This Zeigler Auto Group No. 77 Chevy team did a very good job with everything throughout the race. We had a very slow stop at the start of the race with a nut coming loose. That really left us behind. We knew we had a great Chevy, so we did everything we could. We played around with the strategy a bit to make sure we were on the right side. We caught the yellow flag well, but after that our car was really good. We reached fourth position and were reaching third. Our lights were out, so we were going a little slow on pit road. That was probably the difference between finishing in the top five or not. Overall, it was a really good job by this No. 77 team.”
Justin Haley – Finished 9th: “It was a really good race for the MotoRad 51 team. I’m really proud of the strategy that the Rick Ware Racing team brought to the table. It was a fast and competitive car and we were able to stay with it all day and make positive adjustments. When the final stage started, we really started to pick up speed and we had a lot of pace in the car. We had a good strategy and ran out of fuel right at the line, but we still got a top 10 and now we have solid momentum heading into Sonoma.”
Kyle Larson – Finished 10th: “I’m very proud of this top 10. After the turn, I didn’t expect that. The car came to life. The number 5 HendrickCars.com The Chevy team did a good job on our strategy. We were on the offensive there for the last 25 laps or so. Everything went as well as it could, given the circumstances. I’ll take it.”
Chase Briscoe – Finished 17th: “I’m not really sure what happened. I know there were a lot of different strategies there and I don’t know what turned out or how it turned out. Our car was fine. We definitely seemed to have a little more long-term difficulty than some other people, and lacked grip overall. It’s the worst case scenario for us, how it all played out. But I thought we had definitely improved our car a lot since yesterday. We’ll learn from that and go to Sonoma.”
Daniel Hemric – Finished 18th: “I think we learned a lot today collectively as a team. Our Chevy Poppy Bank struggled early on, but (crew chief) Trent (Owens) kept pushing and made big changes. We had a stroke of luck during the second stage, which It gave us excellent track position to start the final stage. I’m proud of how much we improved throughout the day.”
Noah Gragson – Finished 22nd: “We just struggled all weekend with balance, and we struggled with speed, we struggled with takeoff pace, we struggled with speed on long runs. Everything was stuck in dirty air and couldn’t run on new tires, it just had problems. I appreciate all these guys at SERVPRO. Our team 10, we are frustrated, is not at our level today. “We’re going to get back to work and figure it out for Sonoma.”
Ryan Blaney – Finished 24th: “I never thought we were short. It’s one of those things. I am proud of the 12 boys. The Ford Menards/Richmond was fast. She had her work cut out for her in keeping Christopher in line. That was fun. I don’t know what happened to him, but he missed a lap. That sucks, but congratulations to team 2. They did a good job all day. Congratulations to them, Austin. I’m proud of Team Penske and Ford. I am very happy with our presentation today. I don’t know what I have to do for luck to be on our side. I screwed up the last two points races and I thought we had a great chance to win today and I finished badly, so I appreciate the effort. We just have to move forward.”
Derek Kraus – Finished 30th: “It was a long day here at Gateway. I felt like we had a better car than our results, however I was never able to get the track position we needed or maintain it when we had it. “I am grateful to Kafka Conveyors and Kaulig Racing for the opportunity and hope to have another opportunity towards the end of the year.”
Kyle Busch – Finished 35th: “It looked like he (Kyle Larson) got loose on the frontstretch in turn one. He was carrying old tires and trying to get us a spot. I’m not sure what that one point would mean to him, but it certainly hurt us a lot. He took that point from us, in addition to the others we would get for the stage and then also the rest of the day. It’s very frustrating. We can’t afford days like this. The No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Camaro wasn’t what it was last year, but it was a top-10 car and we were going to finish there. Now we are not going to finish anything.”
Josh Berry – Finished 36th: “I really don’t know what happened. Obviously, with what our past has been with rotors here, it makes you think that. I went over and looked at the rotors and it looked like they were still there so it’s either that or a tire. … We climbed into the top 15 pretty quickly. The car was pretty good and I was learning a lot. We pushed the exit too hard in the last section and received the penalty there. “We were still passing cars and it would have been another good day.”