Team Chevy at Fontana Notes and Quotes

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 2nd:

YOU ENDED UP BRINGING IT HOME SECOND BUT YOU HEARD KEVIN HARVICK SAY HE TOOK THE BLAME FOR THE INCIDENT, HOW DID THE TWO OF YOU COME TOGETHER EARLIER IN THE RACE?

“We were racing really hard and I was better than him in three and four and he was better than me in one and two.  I would side draft him down the front stretch and he would side draft me down the back stretch and I don’t know if he was just coming down to side draft me or what but we made contact and it spun his car to the right.  So, you never want to make contact with anybody but all in all it was a good day for our DC Solar Chevrolet team.   We had a lot of weird issues like vibrations and stuff that made us have to restart in the back and we would have to go back forward.  It always seemed like we would get to third or fourth and kind of stall out there.   But it was still a very good day.  The 78 was really good and I think the 4 was probably the best car again although he didn’t get to race a whole lot.  We are right there and we just have to continue to work hard.  Hats off to everybody at our race shop because they have done a great job of getting our Camaros up to speed quickly.   So I am having fun, but I would like to be one spot better though.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th

A TOP 10, THIS IS WHAT YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN LOOKING TO BUILD ON

“Yeah, each week we have been getting a little bit better.  We are definitely not happy with where we are right now but we are seeing the improvements, we have been seeing it internally.  We are making the cars drive better and better and we are getting more competitive.  So, a strong day for the Lowe’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.  We are not where we want to be but we are getting closer every week.”

WHAT STOOD OUT TO YOU MOST ABOUT THE TRENDS OF THE RACE.  TYPICAL AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY OR A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT THIS TIME WITH THE LEFT SIDE TIRE?

“It just seemed like we had more durability with that left side tire on lower tire pressures.  I don’t believe we had any issues relative to that and that is something we are always scared of here, especially on green flag stops when those tire pressures are low.  We didn’t have that today, but we had some great pit stops, Chad (Knaus) called a great race, and we had a good solid day – so we will take it.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW COATINGS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 10th

“It was a pretty solid day. We struggled, truthfully. I thought we were way closer in practice, and it just didn’t work out. We took off. We were plowing. We freed-up way too much. Our balance was decent at the end, we just weren’t far enough up front to really do anything. I think we were a top 5 car at the end. We just waited too late to get there. But, I’m proud of our Dow Coatings Camaro ZL1.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1 POST RACE PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT: 

THE MODERATOR:  We are now joined by our second‑place finisher in the 22nd Annual Auto Club 400, Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.

A tough, grueling race out there today, a lot of tire falloff.  Talk about the race today.

            KYLE LARSON:  Yeah, it was a pretty tough race from the start.  Fell back a little bit, was able to get past a few cars.  Obviously Kevin and I had our issue there down the backstretch, just racing hard, side drafting each other for a few laps.  I think he came down to maybe side draft down me, got in my right rear, it spun him pretty quick.

            From then on we had to repair a little damage, come from the back.  Was able to get to sixth or so into the first stage in a short amount of time, which was good.

            Then there late, we had an issue with the left front on one of our pit stops, then had to come from the back again maybe that whole last run there.

            It was good to get all the way to second.  Would have liked to be one spot better, but we couldn't even see Martin.  Got to be a little bit better.

            All in all, a good day.  We fought hard.  That's all you can ask for.

            

THE MODERATOR: 

            THE MODERATOR:  We'll start with questions.

 

            Q.  Kyle, you were around Kevin (Harvick) obviously quite a bit there in the early going.  Do you think he would have had anything for Truex at the end?

            KYLE LARSON:  Yeah, it's so hard to tell early in the race, but just the little bit I was around Kevin, I felt like he still had the best car.  Who's to say, though?  Didn't get to really race a whole lot.  The little bit I was around him, his car seemed to get through one and two really good.  I could be fairly even with him in three and four.  One and two, he was really fast.  I'm sure he would have made it better throughout the race.

            But, yeah, I don't know.  He'll be good every weekend.

 

            Q.  Kyle, what do you think it is that you've been able to find driving the new Chevy that the other teams can't figure out yet?

            KYLE LARSON:  It's nothing I've found.  I don't know, our race team has a lot of smart people within our organization.  Any time we had a rules change over the last three or four years, the one‑off weekends like Darlington or Michigan, our team would do a good job, we'd be fast those weekends. 

            I think they just did a lot of homework on this new car.  For whatever reason, we seem to be a little bit better than the other Chevy teams, which we were kind of last year, too.

            But, yeah, I've been happy to see how we've started so far.  But we still have a little ways to go to win.

  

            Q.  Kyle, when you were racing with Harvick, were you surprised you were racing as hard as you were?  Did you think one of you was going to let the other person go?

            KYLE LARSON:  No, I wasn't surprised that we were racing that hard, or he was racing me as hard as he was to try to hold me off.  He had pitted a lap before me, so I had a lap fresher tires than him, was better than him at that point, in that little run we got in. 

            I think he knew he was better than I was overall, so he was just trying to hold me off, race me hard to maybe burn my stuff up, then he could stay in front of me, not have to worry about me 10, 15 laps later when he would be better than me.

            I was actually having a lot of fun racing like that because this place is really cool, you can just kind of go wherever.  I was a lot better than him in three and four.  One and two, he was a little bit better than me in those few laps.  Yeah, just got to battling really, really hard. 

 

            Q.  Kyle, the radio chatter was fairly animated after that accident.  Were you upset at all?  Was there any damage that you felt impacted the ability of your car the rest of the race?

            KYLE LARSON:  No, I don't really feel like any damage impacted us because we were able to drive to the front right after that.

            Yeah, I mean, I was pretty amped up on the radio there right after just because I felt like at the time maybe he let his frustration build and kind of just ran into me down the backstretch, wrecked himself.  I thought he would be mad at me or something like that, which I knew I didn't do anything wrong at the time.

            A couple minutes later, they let me know he was taking the blame for it on the radio, which was nice.  I was able to chill out some.

            Yeah, I mean, I respect Kevin a lot.  I think he respects me a lot, too.  You never want to see anything like that happen.

 

            Q.  The issue they had to fix, was that something that broke or a mistake?

            KYLE LARSON:  I haven't exactly seen what broke.  Sounded like brake duct or something fell in between the wheel.  Yeah, I don't know if that was something the pit crew guys hit and broke or whatever.  I'm just glad I could feel it under that caution and was able to pit.  That would have ruined our day, had I not.

 

            THE MODERATOR:  Appreciate it.