CHEVY MENCS AT DAYTONA 500: Post Race Notes and Quotes

DAYTONA, Fla. – (Feb. 17, 2019) - Ty Dillon, whose older brother Austin won The Great American Race a year ago, finished in sixth place to lead all Team Chevy drivers in the 61st running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
 
“I had a blast tonight. What a great way to start our year with our GEICO Camaro. I’m really proud to be the top finishing Chevy at the very first race of the year. So that’s a great way to set the tone,” said Dillon, following the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series season-opener, which went seven extra laps.
 
Ty Dillon (No.13 GEICO Camaro ZL1) led a parade of six consecutive Chevrolets across the finish line: Kyle Larson (No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1, seventh); Ryan Preece (No. 47 Kroger.com Camaro ZL1, eighth); Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, ninth); Ross Chastain (No. 15 Premium Motorsports Camaro ZL1, 10th); Alex Bowman (No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1, 11th), and Austin Dillon (No. 3 DOW Coatings, 16th).
 
Chastain’s No. 15 was one of only three cars in the 40-car field that was not involved in one of the many numerous wrecks, which resulted in two red flags for nearly 40 minutes, and 12 cautions for 47 laps. The Big One collected 21 cars on lap 191.
 
Pole-sitter William Byron (No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1) was in contention for much of the race, leading 44 laps, more than all but one driver, before he got caught up in a wreck late in the race. He finished in 21st place, nine laps down.
 
Jamie McMurray (No. 40 McDonald’s/Cessna/Bass Pro Shops Camaro ZL1) finished in 21st place, also nine laps down, in the final race of his career.
 
Chase Elliott (No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1), who led Team Chevy with three wins in 2018, ended up in 17th place, seven laps down.
 
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS.   DRIVER
6th       Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Camaro ZL1      
7th       Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 
8th       Ryan Preece, No. 47 Kroger.com Camaro ZL1
9th       Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
10th     Ross Chastain, No. 36 Camaro ZL1    
 
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS.  DRIVER
1ST      Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2nd       Kyle Busch (Toyota)
3rd       Erik Jones (Toyota)
4th       Joey Logano (Ford)
5th       Michael McDowell (Ford)
 
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway with the QuickTrip 500 on Sunday, February 24 at 2 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
 
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
A SIXTH PLACE FINISH IN THE DAYTONA 500 IS A PRETTY GOOD WAY TO START THE SEASON
“It feels good. I’m just really proud of our effort. God is good. It wasn’t really me driving this thing. I would leave it up to him to get me through those wrecks and boy that was fun. I had a blast tonight. What a great way to start our year with our GEICO Camaro. I’m really proud to be the top finishing Chevy at the very first race of the year. So that’s a great way to set the tone. My GEICO guys are amazing and this is going to be a good year for us and we’re proud of what we’re doing.”
 
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1- Finished 7th
YOUR SPEEDWEEKS WAS NOT GREAT, BUT YOU SOMEHOW ENDED UP WITH A GOOD FINISH:
“Yeah, it was a pretty smooth race there until the very end. I got a tire rub and blew a left-rear and crashed. The second time me and (Ricky) Stenhouse got together and I wrecked. The third time, I got on the brakes really hard and spun and about crashed. My car is super beat up so to come away with a top 10 is pretty cool.”
 
RYAN PREECE, NO. 47 KROGER.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th
YOU HAD A CHANCE TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500. CAN YOU SUM-UP YOUR THOUGHTS & EMOTIONS
“I got taken to school, to be honest with you. A lot of learning to be had, for sure. Today was a big learning day. But a really good friend of mine told me a goal is to finish. And I did just that. So, my first finish at Daytona, a top 10 for JTG and Kroger and what more could you ask for?”
 
HOW INTENSE IS THE LAST FEW LAPS OF RACING AT DAYTONA FOR THE 500?
“It’s intense, man. It’s something I’ve never been a part of. So, I have a lot of learning to do, for sure. Today was the type of day that you just wanted to race around these guys and not be erratic and not do anything stupid and hopefully when we go to Talladega or come back to Daytona, I can get a little bit more help. But, all in all, it’s really great for this Kroger Camaro. I’m looking forward to Atlanta next week.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th
IS THAT THE MOST BIZARRE THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU IN A RACE GETTING CRASHED COMING ONTO PIT ROAD?
“Yeah, I’ve never been hit like that on pit lane. That was the start of the craziness. I don’t know if that kept us out of trouble and got us a good finish or what, but certainly not something that we were anticipating. That just set off a chain reaction of events from there.”
 
TALK ABOUT THE RESILIENCE OF THIS TEAM TO KEEP YOU OUT THERE AND GET A DECENT FINISH TO THE START THE SEASON?
“There is a lot to manage that last 30 laps from an issue with trying to get the fueler neck in place to fuel the car, which resulted in a penalty. Getting those two laps back, working on the car multiple times, multiple crashes, for a first true race together as a group, a really, really brilliant day.”
 
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th
HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?
“I’m not sure we really did. We were just kind of credited with a finish there. It was a bummer. We had over the wall too soon and that put us behind. We got back to second and I kind of poked my nose out there for the lead at the wrong time and got shuffled and we were running third or fourth; and then the No. 20 (Erik Jones) ran out of fuel pressure right in front of us and just kind of buried us. From then on everybody’s brains went out the window and we just started crashing the rest of the night.”
 
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW COATINGS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 16th
“We had a shot, but it is what it is. Daytona is really hard to position yourself to miss those wrecks and we didn’t do a good enough job to position ourselves like we did last year. I wish we could have missed that big one. Maybe if we were in the bottom lane, but I just think it happened so fast you needed to be up front. This has been a great process… it’s not over for us at Daytona we are going to come back and win this thing.”
 
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 17th
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW THAT MOST RECENT INCIDENT?
“Yeah I didn’t really see much of anything. I think Clint (Bowyer) was just sliding up the track and I was in the outside lane, I really had no other option other than just to hit him. I had a huge run, I just didn’t have anywhere to go with it. We crashed I think four or five times, finally finished us off. It’s crazy what these things come down to and just survival, it’s crazy.”
 
DESPITE THE FINISH YOU HAVE WERE YOU HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU SAW THROUGHOUT THE RACE?
“Yeah, well it definitely was the bottom and the bottom was a faster way around and I think once the power in numbers got down there it certainly showed that. I wish we could have just made it to the end.”
 
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 21st
WALK US THROUGH THE MOST RECENT RACING INCIDENT:
“We were pushing the No. 22 we were in sixth and made a good recovery we had some damage from the previous wreck. That kind of hurt us a little bit, but we were able to restart sixth after missing the first wreck and the No. 34 just got hooked right or got loose right and slammed me in the door and that hooked me to the left and then I was just part of the meat sandwich after that.”
 
COULD YOU FEEL THE INTENSITY BUILDING?
“Yeah, for sure. We were really close to the front with about 23 to go and we got sucked behind the No. 20 when his car shut off. We were stuck back in the back and we got up to 10th or so and missed the wreck. I wasn’t really witnessing all the intensity until I was pushing the No. 22. We were in a great spot to content for the win and just all hell broke loose.”
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 40 MCDONALD’S/CESSNA/BASS PRO SHOPS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 22nd
HOW DO YOU ASSESS YOUR DAY?
“Certainly, a bizarre 500 to have so much green flag racing and then so many wrecks at the end. It’s incredible to me how many times we were able to crash in the last 10 laps. It’s part of it. You were able to get big runs. It seemed like as the sun went down those runs happened more often. When the Daytona 500 is on the line, people are willing to take big risks. They just all waited to the end.”
 
IF THIS IS YOUR LAST CUP RACE IS IT A LITTLE DEFLATING?
“I mean you just know coming here… I’m thrilled I made it as long as I did. I made it through two or three wrecks I should have been in and didn’t get torn up. It is just part of it. It is what it is and I’m just thankful I’m safe. This is just one of those places you come to that there are a lot of unknowns and certainly after flipping at Talladega speedway racing was a little different in my mind.”
 
DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 BASS PRO SHOPS/CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 34th
WHAT DID YOU SEE HAPPEN OUT THERE?
“You know you get that accordion effect corner entry and I just saw the No. 95 get turned, at that point just kind of a road block. You are trying to make moves, but you are going so fast and everybody is trying to gouge to get to the end of the race and just no where to go. Hate it for everybody on this Bass Pro Shops/Caterpillar Camaro ZL1, this No. 8 team has busted their tails on this race car the last almost two weeks trying to prepare. I thought we would be in good shape there the next to last restart before the crash. We were lined up sixth and we just got hung up pushing a car that had damage and just started dragging the whole top lane back. Unfortunately, we shouldn’t have been there in the first place, but the guy who got crashed was also running in the top five. You never know how it’s going to go, but at the end of the day count our blessings and move on and then go to Atlanta and start racing.”
 
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 KLEENEX WET WIPES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 37th
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR VANTAGE POINT?
“A lot more eventful than we wanted our (Daytona) 500 to be. We had a really fast Kleenex Wet Wipes Camaro ZL1. I can’t thank our team enough for the hard work put in over the off season for all our sponsors and for Kroger coming on board and really buying into our program making this fun. To go out there and have an issue early on and to recover back and we kind of knew where we were at. We were towards the back after that recovery and it wasn’t worth going to the front yet. You knew the wreck was coming, you just expect it to come a lot earlier. With single digits laps to go it’s time to go and you just take that risk. The best I saw two or three rows in front of me all I saw was the No. 95 car sideways and it just piled in from there.”