CHEVY MENCS AT POCONO 2: Team Chevy Race Notes & Quotes

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA ALL PRO TEACHERS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 3rd 
*Career Best Cup Series Finish*

HOW GOOD WAS THE RACE CAR? 
“We really struggled all week.  But then the boss man showed up (Mr. Hendrick) and magically we got better today.  Really glad for Axalta and to have the Eagles on the car in Pocono close to Philly (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is pretty special.  Wish we wouldn’t have got such a bad last restart.  Kyle (Busch) said to wait for a hand out the window and the hand never came, so he kind of snookered me there, but it’s all good.  I’m just glad we are kind of headed in the right direction.”

TAKE US THROUGH THOSE FINAL RESTARTS AND HOW YOU WERE ABLE TO GAIN SOME OF THOSE FINAL FEW POSITIONS: 
“Yeah, I felt like our car was really solid on restarts all day.  Anytime you restart on the outside here you can kind of take advantage of some people into the Tunnel (Turn).  We were able to do that.  That last restart wasn’t the best I couldn’t get to Kyle’s (Busch) rear bumper.  I think we had some gear ratio differences there, but still a good solid day.  The spotter did a good job all day, engine shop, chassis shop, everybody back home really appreciative for the continual improvement because it’s been awhile since we’ve run this good.”

HOW PROMISING IS THE PERFORMANCE TODAY FOR THIS ORGANIZATION? 
“It’s great.  We really struggled all weekend until today.  Then the boss showed up, so maybe Mr. Hendrick just needs to come to every single race and we will all run better.  It’s kind of some light at the end of the tunnel.  We didn’t have the raw speed it looked like the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) did.  We were a little off, but anytime all four of us are running better is a good week for us.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA/IMRON CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th

NICE TOP FINISH.  DO YOU THINK THIS WILL KEEP YOUR MOMENTUM GOING FORWARD NOW?

“There are a lot of big positives. I feel there are a couple of things we could have worked on and we’ll keep working on those things. Our cars are just getting faster. Now we have the speed to run in the Top 10, which makes it a lot easier to do things and allows us to be more aggressive and allows me to drive the car the way I know how to drive it. I feel like our speed is just starting to get us in a position to be more aggressive, which is really good.”

DID COMING HERE FOR THE SECOND TIME PLAY INTO YOUR TOP FINISH?

“Well, just bringing the same set-up and everything just helped a lot with us. Just knowing exactly what we were going to have in the race. Like I said, I think there are a couple of things we can work on going forward, but it’s really good to get a day like that.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th

WHERE HAS THE SPEED BEEN COMING FROM?

“I think a little bit of everything. I don’t even know why some race tracks seem to be more suitable for what we have, and some don’t. We think we’re better as a whole, but I think we still have some work to do.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 24th

“Pocono is definitely a hard track to get a handle on. You have to be perfect in each corner on every single lap, and all of the corners are completely different from one another. It is a challenge to be able to have a car that’s set up to get through all three turns perfectly. It’s called the “Tricky Triangle” for a reason. We battled with the balance of our GEICO Camaro ZL1 on exit through all of Stage 1 and most of Stage 2. My crew chief and the team were able to get the handling closer to where we needed it to be, but we have to be there from the very beginning. We know that, and this team continues to work hard week in and week out to keep us competitive and moving in the right direction. We are going to keep digging.”

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 MILE 22 CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in an on-track incident on lap 154

VICIOUS CRASH, ARE YOU OKAY, WHAT HAPPENED? 
“I’m okay.  That was a huge hit.  Babe, I’m fine, Mom, everybody back at home, I’m okay.  Hardest one of my career.  I was just telling them here there is no feeling like being helpless in that situation going off into Turn 1 and it scared the hell out of me.  I didn’t know if I was going to remember if I hit or not, so we are good.  Bit my cheek, banged my foot off the pedal, I’m okay though.  I will wake up tomorrow and be a little sore, but the safety has come a long way.  It’s good to be able to climb out of the car.  The EMT’s were worried that I didn’t let the window net down fast enough and I was like ‘hell that was the last thing I thought about, I’m sorry.’  Everything was good they gave me an ultrasound, no twins or anything, so I’m good.

"Just an unfortunate ending for us.  Our Mile 22 Chevrolet was okay, it was decent, we were trying to get by and salvage a decent finish and had a brake failure.”

DESCRIBE WHEN YOU FELT THAT AND THE PROCESS YOU WENT THROUGH TO DECIDE WHAT YOUR OPTIONS MIGHT BE: 
“Yeah, the lap before I was holding off Aric (Almirola) going into (Turn) 1 and the pedal went to the floor so I went to the bottom.  Your natural instinct is to try to use up all the track when that happens.  So, it went to the floor, pump it up, get through the Tunnel (Turn) and through (Turn) 3 and then down into (Turn) 1 I started pumping it right past start/finish line and it blew.  I should have hooked a right into the fence and stayed up there to use that to slow me down, but I’m used to turning left and there she went through the grass.  So, unfortunate, definitely the hardest one.  I’m okay, I will be sore, yeah, I will be limping, but I will be fine.”

ARE YOU OKAY? WALK US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE: 
“Yeah, I’m okay.  Just brake failure there.  It blew up going down the straightaway the right front, I believe.  I can’t remember if I turned left or if it just kind of jolted to the left and I should have stayed to the right.  And I went for a hellacious ride and just for about two or three seconds you can really slow it down and you are just helpless.  There is nothing you can do and you are just like, please stop.  And it does, it does when it hits the fence and all-in-all it was okay, knocked the wind out of me.  It took me a minute to let the window net down because that was the last thing I thought about, so apologize to everybody worried about that, but just an unfortunate ending for us and our Mile 22 Chevrolet.  We were just trying to maintain some ground and get a decent finish here and go on to Watkins Glen, but unfortunately, we’ve got to hang this one on the hook with our heads down.  So, we will go on to Watkins Glen and have some fun.”