Ryan Blaney — winner: “Yeah, probably the hardest 20 laps that I drove. I was trying to kind of bide my stuff and kind of pull Josh a little bit. And then he really started coming. I started to get super free. And it was all I could do to hold him off and try new lanes. And that was good racing and clean racing. Appreciate Josh for not throwing me the bumper when he could have. But what a cool day. What a cool weekend. Super fast car all weekend. So I can’t believe the 12 boys. They’re unbelievable. Really have been strong to start the playoffs and it’s great to get a win in the first race of this round.
Blaney holds off Berry to win Round of 12 opener
Ryan Blaney recaps racing with Josh Berry and how he was able to hold him off to open the Round of 12 with a win at New Hampshire.
“I expect (Berry) to go out and try to win the race, and I knew he wasn’t going to lay over for me, but I didn’t think I was going to ever get the bumper. So we raced just super clean, but I would do the same if I was him. You’d go try to win the race, so that’s what this thing was all about. It was very stressful, and I’m worn out, but overall, what a what a cool weekend and look forward to going to Kansas next week.”
Berry able to ‘keep Blaney honest’ in closing laps
After being eliminated from the playoffs last week, Josh Berry rebounded for a runner-up finish at New Hampshire in a close battle with Ryan Blaney in the closing laps.
Josh Berry — second: “It was definitely an awesome day. Had a really good car. Hats off to Ryan at the end. All of our cars were really strong, and Ryan did a great job there.
I was honestly surprised. I was a little worried when he got around me as quick as he did, but it seemed like it leveled out, and I was able to keep him honest at least at the end. All in all, (crew chief) Miles (Stanley), this whole team done a great job. We were down a set of tires after the spin. So I think it kind of forced our hand. We didn’t want to take our last rites at least that early with that many laps left. We still made the most of it. Hats off to everybody at Wood Brothers and Team Penske. Yeah, just a shame to finish second, but after the last couple weeks, it feels good. This is definitely what we’re capable of, and hopefully we can keep it going. I was going to race him. It’s definitely a tough situation. You’ve got to take care of him. That’s how I try to race, anyway. These restarts and stuff, I try to do the best I can to be smart. It’s tough out there sometimes. I was going to race him hard but clean.”
Byron able to ‘stack runs’ for third at NHMS
New Hampshire has always been “tricky” for William Byron, but he scores his first top-10 finish at the track and a foundation to build on in the Round of 12.
William Byron — third: “Yeah, it was a good day overall. A lot of things we’ve just kind of been building on at the short tracks were working for us, and I feel like this place has always been tricky for me in the Cup car. I feel like the other series were good, but this place in the Cup car has been tough on us. So yeah, just trying to build little bits here and there, and I just felt like we could really stack runs together. I felt like we were really strong. The Penske guys were super fast. They were kind of in another zip
code, but I felt like other than that, we were really competitive and just really proud of our team. You’ve got to go out there and execute every week. You got to keep your foot on the gas in this deal. So it’s yeah hopefully we can go to Kansas and be up front contending for a win.”
Joey Logano — fourth: “The 12 was wicked fast in practice, and he showed that again in the race. Our only chance was beating him on pit road and beating on details, but they were able to make up their track position when they put four on. Over time they got back up there. That last restart, I could have restarted behind him and probably finished third in the race, but I wanted a chance to wi,n and if I was behind the 12, I wasn’t going to win. I went for it, and it cost us a spot, but, overall, I’m proud of the execution. We obviously got a ton of points today. I think we got a second and a first in the first two stages and a top-four finish, so we did what we needed to do. We’re plus the cut line. I’d rather win. That’s just the greed in me, especially when it’s home.”
Chase Elliott — fifth: “The day was good for the No. 9 Chevy team. Just hate we had to not pit for track position because you want to be up there in the mix. But the way it all worked out, we got some stage points there in Stage 2 and got a good result with a top-five finish. We’ll go to Kansas (Speedway) and try it again. No, there’s no such thing as being safe in this deal. We’ll just lay it out there again next weekend and hope for the best.”
Bell ‘didn’t have the pace’ to contend at NHMS
Christopher Bell “didn’t have the pace” to contend up front at New Hampshire but is happy to secure a solid points day with a sixth-place finish in the Round of 12 opener.
Christopher Bell — sixth: “I think from a points standpoint, we did well. I know a lot of people are going to look at me and say how can I be frustrated at Gateway and not today. Well, this weekend really was a whole different story. We just didn’t have the pace. We didn’t have the pace to run with the top competitors. We walked out of here with a lot of points, so I think it was a successful day. I feel good about our performance at the next two, but with that being said I felt good about our performance coming into here and it didn’t turn out. Yeah, Kansas is very similar to what we had at Darlington so hopefully we do good. I think we can. And, then surely the Roval is a road course we’re definitely strong at. Optimistic – you never know until you get through them. But today was a good day and off to a good start in the Round of 12.”
Kyle Larson — seventh: “I thought it was a good day for the No. 5 Chevrolet team. At times, I thought we were the third- or fourth-best car, and then just on cycled tires and right-sides, I just wasn’t as good on those runs. We’ll just look at that and see what we can learn from it. But all-in-all, it was a great day. It was a great points day with getting points in both stages. We want more, but it was a pretty solid day and start to the Round of 12.”
Michael McDowell — eighth: “It was a solid day for the No. 71 Chevrolet team. We had good speed and ran in the top-10 for most of the day. We lost some track position a few times. We had a bad restart that kind of got us behind. But I felt like we had good pace. We had good strategy and calls on pit road and made some good improvements. We had a really good long-run car, but just needed a few more laps there at the end to get a few more positions. Overall, this team had great execution, and it was a good day. We still need a little bit more, but we’re getting close.”
Ross Chastain — ninth: “I thought we had a respectable race. Our No. 1 Chevrolet was too tight for most of the race. We spent most of the race trying to get it to turn better. But once we got that better, we went back forward. When we were too tight, we went backwards. I think we just started the day overall too tight and needed to get some wedge out throughout the race, but it just took us a little while. We’ll take a top-10 finish and go back to work to get ready for Kansas (Speedway).
Chase Briscoe — 10th: “It was not a great day for us. On the racetrack, we never really had any issues, but on pit road we kept losing positions. Just hard to do that in the Playoffs and not sacrifice a finish because of it. I thought our car was okay. We definitely didn’t have anything for the Penske cars. I would’ve taken a 10th after yesterday but also felt like we kind of left a lot on the table today just on pit road and whatnot. We’ll move on to Kansas. The positive thing is we’re above the cutline. That was the goal of today and we were able to do that. We’ll go on to Kansas where I feel like our car should be way better and hopefully capitalize on it there.”
Hamlin explains contact with Gibbs at NHMS
Denny Hamlin believes he will “work through” the unfortunate contact with Ty Gibbs at New Hampshire after both teammates raced hard in Stage 2.
Denny Hamlin — 12th: “It’s super unfortunate he got spun there and obviously the contact came from us. Yeah, I don’t have any other comment other than that. Just had some contact into (turn) one. It was obviously a really rough race before that. We’ll work through it and all but just — we’ll see how it goes. But honestly, it’s unfortunate the contact happened. … Just a bad restart on my part. I just couldn’t get going with the bottom lane. Every time we started on the bottom, just could not get anything going, and so obviously it cost us some positions there from where we probably would’ve finished. But just got to get a little better and certainly we didn’t come here with our best. Got to get a little faster, got to get the car handling better and I’ve certainly got to do a better job.”
Austin Dillon — 13th: “Proud of the effort from our team. We fought hard for that one. The car was more rigid over the bumps and lacked rear grip at the beginning. We got on the other side of that but then were too tight. (Crew chief Richard) Boswell and the guys kept making adjustments, and we definitely made it better. The top rolled on restarts to gain ground at the end, and we came home with a solid finish, which was needed after our last few weeks.”
Austin Cindric — 17th: “It’s probably what our average was throughout the day. I think between screwing up qualifying on my end, I thought we had a great long run car with our Ford Mustang, just weren’t able to capitalize on it. I felt like I really struggled to get going, so not enough positives to outweigh the negatives. It’s obviously a great day for the team with the 12 and the 22, but the saving grace is I think a lot of the guys I’m racing didn’t get stage points either and probably had a smaller loss than what we could have. You’ve got to expect to want to run in the top 10 and get stage points to advance out of this round, so not everything we needed, but we’re still in the game. I think this weekend is proof. You can’t take anything for granted, but I don’t think we’re in a position to be desperate. We’ve just got to go out the next two weekends and do better than we did this weekend. If we have a repeat of this weekend, it’s not going to be enough to make it through. We’re capable of it, and I believe in that. I feel good about Kansas.”
Tyler Reddick — 21st: “I didn’t expect that; that’s for sure. The way the race started I thought we were going to be able to run in the top 10 all day, but between the brake issues we had, and it just got away quick. The balance went away and then next thing you know we were trying to battle for 20th. Just a terrible day. Yeah, there’s just a lot of question marks, honestly. Places we have had speed at, we don’t bring speed. That’s been one of them for us. Yeah, we need something special to happen. I’m hoping we find the answer.”
Bubba Wallace — 26th: “Just a miss all around really. We couldn’t really seem to get things going. Our best run lasted for five laps, the caution came out, and then it was just right back to no good. I hate it. I felt really optimistic and marched forward at the start, and it just never really went anywhere. We kind of plateaued on Lap 5, and that was it. I hate that. It’s just a head scratcher. I told our team we’re way better than that. We know it. As much of a gut punch as this one is, we’ll move on. This is what we’ve got to do.”
Kyle Busch — 30th: “The No. 8 Chevrolet struggled with no lateral grip as the race began, and while the entire Richard Childress Racing team was working to get us back to the front, we got caught up in the crash early in Stage 2 and battled front-end damage the remainder of the race. Our focus remains returning the No. 8 to victory lane, and we hope to do just that next weekend at Kansas Speedway.”
John Hunter Nemechek — 33rd: “I’m good. I hate it for all my guys, we were on a really good stretch the last few weeks. Getting into Turn 3 under the 35, I don’t know if just when I hit the bumps, but it automatically turned sideways, and I was along for the ride. So I hate it. We were making ground on it all day. Getting better track position-wise. Now we’re going home with a wrecked race car. We’ll be back next week at Kansas.”
Ty Gibbs — 34th: “It’s unfortunate, but I’m excited to go race next week and looking forward to it. We’ll have a good race next week and looking forward to it.”
