You asked for it, you got it: What Drivers Said after Busch Light Clash
Here’s what many of the drivers who competed in Sunday’s Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum had to say about how their day turned out:
Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – WINNER: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE THE FIRST WINNER OF THE CLASH AT THE COLISEUM? “I can’t believe it. We’re here. The L.A. Coliseum. We got the victory with the old Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. This is an amazing event. Congratulations, NASCAR. Such a huge step in our industry to be able to do this, put on an amazing race for everybody. I’m out of breath. I was so excited about this. This is a big win. My wife is having a baby tomorrow, our third one, so a pretty big weekend for us.” YESTERDAY IN PRACTICE YOU STRUGGLED. HOW DID YOU STEP UP SO BIG AND MAKE THE RIGHT ADJUSTMENTS TO RUN AND WIN? “The guys working on the car did an amazing job finding speed when we were slow. We were 28th or so on the board yesterday and made some good changes – worked with our teammates – Ryan Blaney a lot. I owe a lot to him, too, to see some of the gains that they made and ultimately get the win. I want to say hey to my buddy, Hutson and Jamison and my wife, Brittany. This is cool. I’m headed home right after this. I told her, if you’re having the baby I’m just running right off the track from here, so I don’t think it’s happening right now, but this is special to get the first Next Gen win, the first win out here in the Coliseum. It’s a special one, so we’re gonna have some fun and celebrate it.”
Kyle Busch – No. 18 M&Ms Toyota - Finished 2nd: “I was being perfect doing everything I needed to do – keep the tires underneath me. When I got close, I was like, okay I’ve got to try more and pounce at an opportunity and just overheated the tires and smoked them in three laps and that was it. Disappointing, obviously, come out here and win the pole, and lead laps, run up front. The finish goes green and it’s not chaotic and we can’t win, so it sucks. Congratulations to my son (Brexton Busch) – he won yesterday. That’s cool. I was trying to match him. He’s winning more than me these days, so somebody better send him a contract.”
Austin Dillon – No. 3 True Velocity Chevrolet – Finished 3rd: “Man, I don’t know. From where we were last night, it took a lot of crazy fate and a little prayer last night. Talked to myself. We got it together today. The True Velocity Chevrolet was really fast in practice, I just struggled a little bit in qualifying and knew we would get in the race and be fine. The long run speed was there. Disappointed I couldn’t get those next two cars. I really wanted to get there. But all-in-all, a great race from where we were last night and everyone back home at RCR, good job. It was a good showing for us.”
Erik Jones – No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet – Finished 4th: “Yeah, I was racing with him (Ryan Blaney) there and he brake-checked me off of (turn) four for no real reason. I didn’t appreciate that and felt like I showed it on the track. If we have a conversation, we have a conversation. It’s an exhibition race. We’re out here doing what we can. I was frustrated with the move that he made, so that’s what happened. Overall, my No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevy was really good. It was a good weekend to come home fourth for us. It’s not a race that means a lot, as far as setting us up for the rest of the season. But nobody came out here not trying. It feels good to run good and we’ll hopefully we’ll carry that momentum to Daytona.”
Kyle Larson – No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet – Finished 5th: “It was an awesome experience all around. First race with the new car. This event was really neat. It seemed like a great atmosphere. I’m not able to ever sit in the stands and watch other races. I got to watch a Heat Race and the Last Chance Qualifiers. It seemed like a blast and I hope we can do more of this.”
William Byron – No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet – Finished 6th: “It was a fun event and I think the fans got a good show. It was all about track position though, similar to Martinsville. We tried a couple times on restarts to pick up an extra position here and there but we were just too tight the first half of the race to keep it. The guys worked hard, not just today, but all weekend to improve the Valvoline Chevy. We learned a lot with these new cars.”
Cole Custer, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang, finished 7th: “It was one of the coolest events I’ve ever been a part of. To walk down those steps into the Coliseum and see the big names performing. It was a fun track to race around. Hat’s off to NASCAR. They deserve a great pat on the back for what they’ve done here. I’d love to come back.”
A.J. Allmendinger – No. 16 Chevyliners.com Chevrolet – Finished 9th: “Definitely happy to make the main. It was cool to be in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, be a part of this event and have both Kaulig Racing cars make the main. I’m fairly happy with how the race went. To start at the back like that and kind of drive our way to the edge of the top-10, inside the top-10 and finish ninth. I would have liked to have gotten a little bit better. But overall for the weekend, it’s something to build on. Just a great event to be a part of.”
Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang, finished 10th: “I thought it was a great event. I think for the way that everything went I don’t think you could have asked for it to go any better as far as the event goes.” DID YOU LEARN SOME THINGS ABOUT YOUR CAR? “My car was just way too loose all weekend and couldn’t get going.”
Chase Elliott – No. 9 Napa Auto Parts Chevrolet – Finished 11th: "Our race started out pretty decent and we were making progress after starting a little deeper in the field. I kept locking up the right front and unfortunately just got too loose and the car got around. Once I got that little bit of damage our NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet just didn't drive the same. Congrats to everyone that had a hand in putting this event together though. The fans certainly got an entertaining race."
Harrison Burton, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang, finished 12th: “From the last chance race, which was the craziest race of the day. We happened to be in that one and in the middle of all that, but to make the show and run how we did is exciting. I think guys are proud of themselves and should be. We came a long way from our first practice to where we are now and we learned a lot about us and learned about our car as well. I made a mistake and got into Ricky. I feel bad about that. That was just a plain mistake. I talked to him and he seemed good with it, so I appreciate that. Overall, it was just a crazy day. This is an amazing event, seeing all the fans and the National Anthem and the crowd going nuts was a really cool experience for me. This is just my second race, but the first two times in Cup have been Talladega and now this event, so pretty cool event to do it and just proud to drive this 21 Wood Brothers Ford.” WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF TODAY? “I just think that we know we can do it. There were times where we showed really good speed and we’ve got to start somewhere. It’s not a bad starting spot. We’ll keep going from here. I’ll keep getting better from here. Our team will get better from here and it’s a good leap pad to kind of go from here up and to finish 12th in our first race as a team isn’t bad.”
Daniel Suarez – No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet – Finished 14th: “Overall, it’s hard to be upset, but it’s hard to be happy too. My team did a really good job. They worked very hard and we brought a fast race car. The race track changed a lot. It gained a lot of rubber and unfortunately it didn’t work in our favor. The car that won the race, I was faster than him in practice. But they made it through the race and the race track changed to their advantage. That’s part of racing. We have to learn from it. It was a great experience to be here. It was like racing at home. Coming through driver introductions with some veteran heroes. They were excited; it was very special. Hopefully, we can do it again.”
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Great Lakes Flooring Ford Mustang, finished 17th: “Disappointing end for our Menards/Great Lakes Mustang team. Still a major win for the sport. Big event at an iconic venue, we proved we can go have a race about anywhere.”
Justin Haley – No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet – Finished 19th (Accident): “We had a fast Chevrolet. The whole race, we were just kind of pacing ourselves. And then obviously towards the end of the race, the cautions started falling and we just got put in a bad situation. But I’m glad we had speed with our LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet. Any other day of the week, the cards could turn our way and we could have a good run. Happy to be in contention of a win and we’ll see what Daytona brings.”
Ryan Preece, No. 15 Jacob Companies Ford Mustang, finished 20th: “Our brakes went in the feature. I like the format, but I just wish our brakes didn’t go. I felt like we had a pretty good car, but unfortunately we had to quit early. It was a cool event. Everything about was electric, so we’ll see.”
Tyler Reddick – No. 8 Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet – Finished 21st (Mechanical): “The L.A. Memorial Coliseum exceeded expectations. The fans, the atmosphere, the intensity of the race itself. Just the intensity of the field and the drivers – it was an incredible experience. Certainly, the obvious big bummer is breaking our transaxle doing something I probably didn’t even need to do. We had one of the fastest cars on the race track. We were just riding and managing the gap back to Kyle (Busch); trying to lap as many cars that we could so we wouldn’t have to worry about them later. But we never made it that far. It’s a tough lesson, but it’s a lesson we can learn from. Thankfully this wasn’t a points-paying race. It still stings to give away a race like that from the lead, but we’ll be able to learn, grow from it and be even more ready than I thought would be possible rolling into Daytona.”
Denny Hamlin – No. 11 FedEx Toyota - Finished 23rd (Mechanical): “It looks like the power steering belt evidently came off and took the hose with it. We didn’t have any steering ability. This is something you will probably see a lot of this year. It’s just fixing all of the bugs that are going to happen. Unfortunately, had a power steering issue.”
Kurt Busch – No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota - Missed Feature: “Just got put in a bad spot on one of the restarts. When you are not managing the race and holding the white line, it puts you in a vulnerable spot. We needed to transfer. We needed to start off the year strong, and we did not. I’m just disappointed to not be in the A-main. We’re racing in the Coliseum. This is what it is all about. NASCAR did a great job putting this all together. Thanks to … everybody with this team. We’re supposed to be in the A-Main, and we’re not.”
Austin Cindric -- No. 2 eCascadia Ford -- Missed Feature: “I’m not gonna sit here and pretend like I was the only victim in the race. I didn’t have any luck in my heat race or the LCQ. I think we had a fast Ford Mustang. I think the eCascadia Ford has been a fan favorite. I wish it was in the show. I can guarantee that there is gonna be a winner in the feature and there’s gonna be hurt feelings in the feature. It’s not the most conventional style of race that we normally have, but that’s why it’s an exhibition.”
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