Ryan Blaney — winner: “What a wild last couple of laps. I was with Cole (Custer). I kind of asked him on the restart, if you go to the top I’m going with you. We kind of just waited and waited and then the opportunity came, and he made a good move to get to the top, and we were able to really get good shoves. A couple good guys behind us and then it kind of cleared the way for us when (Justin Haley) and (Custer) got racing, and I was able to clear on the top and just barely hold out for the win. This is so cool. I think we kind of just took what was given to us. Kind of how we played Stage 1, had to take a lot of gas in Stage 2, and I wasn’t going to make any ground so I went into max fuel save mode to where I could go a little bit earlier than other guys. Definitely not a traditional way we like to run. We like to lead laps and couldn’t really get there until the end but got there when it mattered. It’s cool to win here again. I won here a few years ago, and nice to be back.”
Daniel Suarez — second: “I don’t know about the last few laps, but maybe 40 laps before the end, I felt like we we didn’t set up ourselves as good as we wanted to be, but that’s not a skill that was back there with us, and he was able to make it to the front. So probably the fastest superspeedway car we have had in a few years. Our playoff run ends here, but I’m very positive we’re gonna be there very soon.”
Justin Haley — third: “Obviously got shaken up there when (Kyle Larson) put whoever that was three wide and then I got too far out in front, I tried to save it, but at the end of the day, I just got too far out front. It hurts, especially with the year the 7 car has had. We obviously had a rough season. You’re counting them down and just trying to play everything out. But yeah, super proud of everyone at Spire Motorsports, the Chevy was very fast, and the Hendrick engine shop did a great job. It stings, but still a good night.”
Kyle Larson — sixth: “What happened? I don’t even know. A lot of stuff happened. We were able to get to lead our lane, and Chase went with us, which was great. Then I don’t know if it just broke the momentum up of the bottom and the top lane, but then the two Fords got rolling on the outside. Was just kind of hoping our middle lane would go or something would happen. But yeah, I don’t know. We did a really good job all night getting the Stage 1 win and had a shot to win Stage 2, just made some mistakes.
Then I don’t really think I made any mistakes there at the end, just the lanes and stuff didn’t work out in our favor. Yeah, cool to get another finish on a superspeedway and great to have Alex in the playoffs. That was pretty crazy there at the end with all the cars around us who needed a win to get locked in, and that was going to hurt him. Happy that Blaney won and was hoping just one of us who had won could win. Glad to have Alex in and all four Hendrick cars go for a championship. I think we’ve been kind of quietly getting better here lately with the 5 team, and we get to go to one of our better tracks next week at Darlington, and hopefully can just get some momentum for our final 10 weeks going. It’s a fun time of year, excited about the opportunity to race for another championship, and wouldn’t want to do it with any other group. Looking forward to it with our Hendrick Motorsports team and see if we can get a Chevy win. … It’s all happening so quick, so it’s hard to kind of process what’s going on. Obviously I knew (Blaney) was pushing (Custer) there. I think coming to the white or something. Obviously I don’t even know who was around me that had a win, but it looked like it was only me, Chase and Blaney. So I was just hopeful that something would work out where one of us three could win, and was happy that Blaney did because we had a lot of objectives today, but one was to see Alex get locked in. For him to do that was to gain a lot of points and beat the 45 or have a guy win that had already won. Thankfully with his misfortune a guy like Blaney won.”
Chris Buescher — seventh: “Just be mad about it for a while. Not trying to pout, just I’m proud of this team. Our Mustang was so good. It handled great. It pushed so well.
I thought we were in a really good spot when we got side by side with (Joey Logano) and when he got tagged or turned or whatever, we checked up and lost our momentum and lost all kinds of spots before the caution came out. After that, got back going and tried to find our teammate there but we were both boxed in in a different lane and ultimately couldn’t find each other. It was a great night. We certainly had a shot and had the speed again, so want to be excited about that, and I am, but man, it’s just another one of those we had the ability to win this race, had the speed, had the handling, and no champagne to celebrate.”
William Byron — 19th: “Yeah, everybody back at the shop, thanks to them, but I thought Brandon did a really good job stepping in tonight. And really we’ve worked together for probably a decade, really, since JRM days. I thought he did a good job, and I’m sure all the work Rudy was doing back at the shop and everything was great as well. Just really proud of the effort. We had some gremlins there in the beginning of the race. We had some weird stuff going on. Then really nothing was wrong with the car, we just kind of got in that early crash and thought we might have had some damage. But overall, our car was good enough to compete for the win, just wish I could have had a couple decisions back in the third stage, and really that caution hurt us because we just were kind of mired in the back and it’s hard to pass. Overall, thought our weekend was smooth, all things considered, and just excited for Darlington. Going to be one of our best racetracks, and I’m sure we’ll be fast there. It’s pretty easy to just turn the page quickly. We’re going to one of our best racetracks and just hope that we can have a good week of prep and be ready for a long 500 miles. That’s one you really want to win. Just excited about the next few playoff races, and this is the time of year that gets exciting, so it’ll be fun.”
Tyler Reddick — 21st: “It was a really awful mistake to make so early in the race. Yeah, was really disappointing for the experience I have to find myself in that position. As a driver you never want to make a mistake like that that early. We got some breaks for sure, and that’s what ultimately got us in. I hate that it came to that, but yeah, we at least made (the playoffs). I think we’re just going to have to find out in the playoffs now at this point, yeah. The speed has been there at times. We just haven’t executed and capitalized. And basically how tonight was just encapsulates what this year has been like for us, just time and time again not capitalizing and not taking advantage of strong Toyota Camrys. And we’re going to have to clean it up, and we’re going to have to be forced to do that in the middle of the playoffs. Honestly, I don’t even know where we’re going after Darlington at this point. Take it one race at a time at this point. We’ve got to put a race together before we can get that up for ourselves and thinking about what lies ahead. We’ve got work to do for sure. I think we’re all capable of it. But yeah, the year has flown by, and we’re still sitting here with no win, trying to put a race together. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — 34th: “I couldn’t really see anything. I got hit from about every direction after it happened. (Kyle Larson) got to the outside of (Joey Logano), which then in turn, I think it put that row four-wide. I’m not sure what happened between (Logano) and (Bubba Wallace). It was just really aggressive racing there. Our plan was to put our No. 47 Chevrolet towards the front and be at the front as much as possible. We got there, and I was in the position that I wanted to be in. I felt like we were going to get into Turn 1 in probably fifth or sixth-place there and try to finish the stage out, but it didn’t happen. I was really stable. I felt like I had a little bit more speed, which was something I was excited about. I felt like I put my Chevy in a lot of good spots, and we went from the back to the front like we normally do.”
Alex Bowman — 35th: “I hate the way the first run went. It seemed like the bottom lane just dissolved behind us, and we tanked, but obviously we had gotten a lot of track position back. We drove back up there to the back half of the top ten or whatever and Yeah, then just nothing you can do welcome to super speedway racing unfortunately, so really proud of my 48 team for the year up to this point we’ve had. The last 10 or 11 weeks have been een pretty special and yeah, we haven’t won so we’re in a tough spot for the rest of the night, but regardless of the outcome, I feel like it’s out of our control and kind of is what it is at this point. So we’ll wait and see how the race ends up and kind of go from there. And regardless, we’re going to be hitting hard the next 10 weeks and trying to get a win, whether we’re in the playoffs or not. While I have certainly stayed off social media, I’m going to sit in front of a TV and watch. But yeah, bummed for Hendrick Motorsports and everybody that worked so hard to not have a shot at it here tonight. But it was going to be tough, whether we were in it or out of it. And unfortunately, we’re on the sidelines watching. And we’re going to find out here in a couple hours.
Bubba Wallace — 36th: “Everything was happening pretty quick there. The hit from (Kyle Larson) shoved me down there, and it was like I got shoved up by (Joey Logano) and (Ryan Blaney) moved up. He was trying to just move up and take the lane. But oh well. I hate it. Twentieth or 22nd to the lead in a short amount of time. A huge shoutout to my crew on the No. 23 Toyota Camry. I’ll take the blame for it, unfortunately. Just a crap deal. Everything was going too good too early to be all true, so something was bound to happen. I hate that for everyone involved in it but hopefully we can get (Tyler Reddick) in. All in all, we’re locked in, and we’ll get focused for Darlington. … Just kind of all came together in a blink of an eye and so I’ll take the blame for it. Unfortunately, a bunch of cars got tore up. Got up to the lead fairly quick so I thought we were playing all of our cards right. But just in the blink of an eye, which is what happens here at Daytona, it can be all taken away from you.”
Noah Gragson — 37th: “We’re only on Lap 27, 28m and there are guys trying to make it four-wide at the front of the pack. I was just collateral damage at that point. It’s definitely a bummer, but I’m still super proud of our team. We started almost towards the back, 32nd I think, and we were up in the top 10 20 laps in, so it’s not from a lack of effort. I just really appreciate everybody at Front Row Motorsports. We’re looking on to Darlington. It’s more in our control and look to have a strong run there. I saw them wrecking towards the bottom, and they shot up the racetrack into us. I mean, it’s every race this year it seems like, or most of them. We’ll go on to Darlington and try again. We’ve just been collateral damage all year long and just the wrong place at the right time pretty much every race. If I ride around in last, I mean we started 32nd and drove up into the top 10 20 laps in, so I don’t know. You just hang out and Monday morning quarterback it and hang out in the back and save fuel, but as a race car driver and for our team, I want to try and lead every lap and get up there and be smart while I do it and I felt like I was doing a decent job at that, but just getting caught up in the wrecks. They’re always right where we are this year.”
Austin Cindric — 39th: “Yeah, I don’t I don’t really know if we could have gone anywhere else. I thought I made it through most of it. I’m probably going to the spotters stand and cheer on during my teammates. That’s about it. So, a shame. I thought our car handled fairly well and yeah, just caught in the middle. You can kind of feel the intensity picking up there. And it probably didn’t need to do that early in the race, and come to think of it, I actually did tighten my belts a lap before that. So yeah, just a shame and felt like my Mustang handled well enough to be a contender tonight. Just the way it goes. Yeah, just the intensity getting ramped up there super early, and I wish I could tell you more, but I only did about 20 laps tonight.”
WILL BE UPDATED
