For the second consecutive weekend, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman led Chevrolet to the checkered flag in NASCAR’s top division – driving his No. 48 Ally Best Friends Camaro ZL1 to a third-place finish in ‘The Great American Getaway 400’.
· The podium result came after a solid top-10 qualifying effort in his No. 48 Ally Best Friends Camaro ZL1. The 31-year-old Tucson, Arizona, native ran steady in the top-10 through much of the race – collecting crucial points in both stages of the 400-mile event.
· Bowman, who solidified a playoff berth with his win in the Chicago Street Race last weekend, has now earned six top-fives and 12 top-10s in 21 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races this season.
· A trio of Hendrick Motorsports teammates drove Chevrolet to top-10 finishes at Pocono Raceway, with Bowman leading William Byron (No. 24 Raptor High Heat Camaro ZL1) in the fourth position, and Chase Elliott (No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1) in the ninth position.
· The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the 30th running of the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 21, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Peach Camaro ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage Two.
Finished: 36th
What started that at the exit of turn three? Did you feel something, or did it just get away from you?
“I just spun out.”
Was it loose or tight during the race, or was that a surprise that it spun out?
“I just flat spun out. We were all sliding around, but I just spun out.”
Talk about your frustration right now, obviously not what you wanted..
“It felt like it happened in slow motion. Yeah, obviously frustrated with myself, but can’t take it back now.”
Are you feeling momentum sliding away after the last couple of weeks, or are you worried now about the bubble at all?
“I’m just worried about why I spun out. I’m a racecar driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, I shouldn’t be doing that. You don’t see us do that too often, so when I do it myself, I’m as surprised as everybody else.”
Can you go back and look at data? How much will data tell you?
“Yeah, but I was in the seat. I felt it slip and I didn’t catch it.”
Was there anything about the balance of the race car that indicated that was possible?
“Oh yeah.. they’re Cup cars, they can always spin out. But we’re supposed to be good enough to catch it.”
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Zone/GetGo Camaro ZL1
Sidelined from damage sustained in an accident in the Final Stage.
Finished: 32nd
Busch on the accident that ended his day early:
“I just want to give thanks to all of our partners. Everybody at RCR, ECR, zone, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Lucas Oil, Chevrolet.. everybody that supports us. We’re having the opportunity to go out there and have some fun; try to continue to work on our program and build everything up. It’s just unfortunate circumstances. Thank you to Rowdy Nation, all the fans and everybody for their continued support. We’ll go back to work and get ready for Indianapolis.”
Any idea of what happened out there?
“That’s just racing these days.. it’s what happens.”
William Byron, No. 24 Raptor High Heat Camaro ZL1
Finished: 4th
You ran up front all day. Didn’t get a chance to lead this race, but talk about how the race played out for you today.
“We were just kind of okay. Definitely had a decent No. 24 Raptor High Heat Chevy. Really good execution and everyone did a good job of just keeping their heads in it. Not every situation went our way with the strategy, but we were able to have decent restarts, especially at the end there, and just kind of maintained it to the end. Definitely a lot of things to dissect, but really proud of the team and just good to get a top-five, for sure.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Sugarlands Sippin’ Cream Camaro ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in the final stage.
Finished: 33rd
Stenhouse Jr. on the accident that ended his day early at Pocono Raceway:
“I have no clue what happened. I was in the top lane. My team said the No. 8 (Kyle Busch) somehow ended up in the grass and came across the track. I don’t know how that happened. I feel like from where we started the day, our strategy was good. The speed in our No. 47 Sugarlands Sippin’ Cream Chevy was decent. We were inside the top-20, really, the whole second-half of the race. I thought we were in good position. We were on four tires there, while there were a lot of guys on two. I was hoping that was going to pay off later on in that run, but we didn’t really get a chance to see how that would work out.”
How frustrating is this? It’s a tough track anyways..
“Yeah, it’s so hard to pass. We’re all so close on speed, so track position is really all that matters. You have five cars that I feel like can drive through the field. Everybody else, if you put us sixth or seventh, we’ll kind of stay sixth or seventh. I think that’s the aggressiveness on the restarts; trying to get that track position, knowing this was towards the end of race. If you have good track position, then you can keep it and get a good finish. It’s just part of it.”
Did you have a visual of the No. 8 (Kyle Busch)?
“I saw him (Kyle Busch) at the last second. I went as high as I could, without getting too far up into the grey. I tried to throttle up to get by him, and he still just clipped me kind of in the left-rear there.”
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
Finished: 3rd
Bowman on this third-place finish at Pocono Raceway:
“We struggled with our car a lot in dirty air. Once we got clean air there in the end, I think most of our adjustments kind of hurt us a little bit; just got too free. Proud of my No. 48 Ally Best Friends Chevy team. It was a good run; we just needed a little bit more to get to the No. 12 (Ryan Blaney). Once I abused the right-rear tire for so long, it made Denny’s (Hamlin) job pretty easy to get around me. But yeah, it was a solid third-place day.”
Two excellent weeks in a row for the No. 48 team. Are you feeling it?
“Yeah, for sure. I think it was important to come here and have another good day after our win last week. We’re going to a special race track next weekend, so hopefully we can get the job done there.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1
Finished: 16th
“It was an up-and-down day for the No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevy team. We didn’t have as much speed as we thought we would have. We were OK in clean air, but in traffic, for some reason we struggled a lot.. I feel like more than the competition. Overall, there were a few things we could do better, but we finished 16th. We’ll take that for the car we had and the speed we showed today. Yesterday, I thought we were going to be a little bit better, but we’ll go back; analyze everything and get better for next time.”
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