NASCAR: What Drivers Said after Fontana
Kyle Larson – No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet – Winner: “It's always fun here to win in the home state. Hard work all weekend there. Didn't feel great in practice yesterday. Cliff (Daniels, Crew Chief) and everybody made some good adjustments overnight, and the car handled a lot better. There were definitely some guys that were quicker than us, but they had their misfortunes. Just kept our heads in it all day. Long race. Just restarts were crazy. The whole runs were crazy. Definitely wild but cool to get a win here in California and hopefully get on a little streak.”
Austin Dillon – No. 3 Dow Coatings Chevrolet – Finished 2nd: “Huge credit to the Lord and our pit crew. Man, they were unbelievable all day. They kept us in this race. We had to make a bunch of adjustments. We were terrible at the beginning. Just kind of learning the car myself and then communicating with Justin (Alexander, Crew Chief), we just made it better and better. We got a lot of great partners on this Dow Chevrolet. I have to thank American Ethanol, everybody that helps make this possible. The pit crew was the story of the day today. They were special. And my teammate (Tyler) Reddick – he balled out all day up there against the fence. I hate it for him what happened to him and I felt like if we didn’t get up there and get after it for them, it would be a let down for RCR. So, glad to get P-2. I made a run at him off of (turn) four. I don’t know if I should have ran the bottom. We could really get into turn one pretty good and rotate the bottom better than some guys. But man, that was a fun race. I’m impressed.”
Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSFactor Chevrolet, Finished 3rd: “It was good. It feels good to be interviewed after the race, too. It’s awesome, but it’s frustrating too. You’re that close and you have a car that you feel like can do it. The No. 43 FOCUSFactor Chevrolet definitely had it today. It was a matter of getting upfront and taking advantage of clean air, and we did that a couple of times. A couple restarts just didn’t go our way. I probably could have done a better job here and there, and it just didn’t add up. I just haven’t raced upfront a lot in the last year and a half. There are some things I need to be better at. Hopefully, I have a lot of time to work on that. We want to keep running upfront and if we keep doing that, we’re going to win some races. I’m really proud of this whole group. It’s been a big off season with the merger and everything we’ve done, so this is a very satisfying run for everybody and I just hope we can keep going.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet – Finished 4th: “We're going to win a few races very soon here. I just can't thank everyone enough on my team. We had a fast car, but we went through a lot of adversity. We had a few issues. We hit the wall once. We had an issue with a diffuser. My pit crew, those guys are legends; it's unbelievable. It's the best pit crew I've ever had, and it's a lot of fun to race like that. Freeway Insurance, Chevrolet, everyone that helps Trackhouse Racing out to be able to be here and perform this way. I can tell you that I'm going to work very, very hard to go to Victory Lane very, very soon.”
Joey Logano - No. 22 AAA Southern California Ford – Finished 5“The guys did a great job of getting the car fixed after I wrecked in qualifying and we were fast right off the get-go. We were okay. The short runs weren’t really our cup of tea with our Auto Club Mustang here. We had a shot there at the end though going down the backstretch two-wide and I thought it was my chance. It was a low percentage move and it was kind of too late down the straightaway to make the move but I thought I had a big enough run that I could maybe get position going in. It was just too late and I couldn’t get my amigo Daniel Suarez there to get far enough back on my quarter. He was on my door and I had to start chasing it. I don't know. I probably could have finished second or third if I didn’t make that move but you have to go for the win. We were so close. I probably would do it again but maybe checked up the entry a little bit anticipating him washing up into Larson. But hey, I tried. It was a fight for everybody out there. The cars are equally matched and nobody had a real dominant car. It switched out through the race. At times it was the 8 and the 5. We were pretty good a couple runs and we were good on the long haul with our Mustang. I had a shot there at the end down the backstretch and I had that run and I knew it was a low percentage move to try to go three-wide on the bottom as late as I was going down the straightaway to get that run but I had to try it. Maybe we could have finished a couple of spots better if I didn’t try it but I had to give it a whirl and it probably cost us a couple of spots but who knows, it might have been the winning move. I am always going to try, it just didn’t work out for us. Overall, coming here with big challenges and wrecking the car in qualifying and the guys fixing it and giving us a shot at the win, you have to be proud of that effort. We learned a lot and there is a lot more to get better at. Nobody is really good, that is what I figured out today. Nobody is good. We have work to do.”
Aric Almirola – No. 10 Rush/Mobil 1 Delvac Ford – Finished 6th: “We sure had our hands full. It was a crazy day, wow. These cars are certainly a handful and we worked on it all day and made it to where it was driving better. Then we got some damage and the guys worked on it and got it fixed. It was a solid day for us to come out and have a good start to the west coast swing and keep our cars in one piece.”
Kevin Harvick – No. 4 Subway Ford – Finished 7th: “We actually had a really good car and then every time we would get close we would have something go wrong. So we just had so many things go wrong that it was hard to keep our track position but I am really proud of my team. They did a great job of battling through everything and giving us a shot out there.”
Kurt Busch – No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota – Finished 8th: “I can’t describe what we went through today with all the adversity, all of the problems – the self-inflicted things, the odd ball scenarios. Wow. What a top-10. That is a statement piece for us at 23XI, to get our top-10 like this with everything we have been through. I’ve got to thank all of my guys for staying focused. They showed me the way, and I showed them on what we’ve got to do this year to keep chiseling away. I think we are the highest finishing Toyota, so we know we have some work to do, and the restart fell our way on that last one, but that was the best our car had handled since the first stage, so lots to learn. Lots to go through. Thanks to Monster Energy, Toyota and everybody that has been working hard on these cars at 23XI.”
Daniel Hemric – No. 16 Poppy Bank Chevrolet – Finished 9th: “What a day! I felt like we had a really good car, and we were able to maintain good speed and move forward. Unfortunately, we had an issue with our shifter and lost six laps. I can't believe we got all of them back and were even able to contend there at the end. I'm super proud of everyone on this No. 16 Poppy Bank Chevy team, My crew chief, Matt Swiderski, and everyone else at Kaulig Racing put together an incredible race car. It was really good and super fast – it was just a matter of being back on the lead lap.”
Cole Custer – No. 41 Production Alliance Group Ford – Finished 11th: “I was really happy with the progress our team made. We made really good adjustments all day and got our car better. We got a little off there at the end and I wish I did a few things different on the restarts but overall it was a solid day and we got some stage points and we can take that into the next one. I think it is awesome to get the car driving good and have confidence there (Las Vegas Motor Speedway) so hopefully, we can take that into the next weekend.”
Austin Cindric – No. 2 Menards/Quaker State Ford – Finished 12th: “It was a really solid day in our Menards Quaker State Ford Mustang getting points in both stages and being a contender in the top-10 the entire race. I felt like I was a bit married to the top lane. I will have to understand why that is and look over how I can be better on the bottom and do a better job on the restarts. It wasn’t our day as far as being involved the wrong things and even recovered back to the top-10 and got a wheel stuck on. We have some things to clean up but it was overall a solid performance and it was good to be in the top-10 all day.”
Chase Briscoe – No. 14 Mahindra Tractor Ford – Finished 16th: “I think dirt guys like Larson and Reddick and me, we like it slick and worn out and you can move around and search for grip. I felt like I was able to try different lanes and try to find grip. I felt like our car was really good too and that obviously helps. But yeah, this place has always been really good for us guys and I think that is just because of how slick it is. I think track position is a lot of it but at the same time, we started 26th and were able to drive to the lead so I can’t blame it all on track position. I think toward the end of the race as guys get better and better throughout it gets harder and harder to drive up through there. I think after I got in the wall a little bit you never really know how much that hurts you but track position is always important. I think it (Auto Club Speedway) is pretty unique. I think that the 1.5 mile stuff, you can learn some stuff. It will be a learning experience the whole time and I think anything you can take away from any track is going to be important. I definitely feel like we learned some stuff today.”
Justin Haley – No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet – Finished 23rd: "Overall it was a good race. We stayed on the lead lap and raced in the top 15 quite a bit. We made the car better with each stop as the race went on, so l'm proud of everyone the No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevy team for working hard all day. At the end, we were racing hard for 11th or 12th and made contact with the 12 car. It wasn't the finish we wanted, and the car is a little torn up, but I'm happy with the performance of the car and the gains we made.”
Tyler Reddick – No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet – Finished 24th: Absolutely gutted by how our race unfolded but I couldn’t be prouder of this whole team and what we were able to do a majority of this race today. We will learn from this; we will become stronger from this and be hungrier than ever before. It was really fun having all of the Lenovo guests here today and it was really exciting to have such a strong run for them today. We will keep this momentum going to Las Vegas next week.”
Ross Chastain – No. 1 Casa Del Sol Tequila Chevrolet – Finished 29th: “To use a backup car and start the race without any laps on it was a handful. We were really loose to start and I was not sure if we’d be able to get on the other side of it. My crew chief Phil Surgen and the Trackhouse team kept changing a lot of things on the car and got the balance where I could drive it. At the beginning of the race, I was pretty worried that we were just going to be loose and slow all day. Obviously, we got a lot better and had a shot at a top-five and I messed up. I made an unforced error running around the sixth spot. I was just riding along and hit a bump wrong and didn’t catch it in time. A mistake on my part. Seeing the transition from the beginning of the race to the end, gives me a lot of hope.”
Harrision Burton – No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford – Finished 33rd (Accident): “It just looked like they stacked up in front of us there. I don't know how many crashed but there was a lot of smoke and I couldn’t see where I was going. I kind of had to take a guess on where they wouldn’t be and ended up finding the 23 I think. It was a frustrating day. It felt like we weren’t running as well as we needed to be anyway. I guess those things happen when you don't have great track position. We were fighting in the teens and 20’s all day and we need to be fighting further up to be able to avoid that mess.”
William Byron – No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet – Finished 34th (Accident): “So frustrated I made that mistake for our team today. What a fast car and we were making our way back to the front. I got loose getting under the No. 8 (Tyler Reddick) who had a flat. Thankful for such a fast car and I know we’ll be back stronger next week.”