Jesse Love and the No. 2 National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund/Whelen Chevrolet Team Overcome Lap 1 Accident to Secure a 13th-Place Effort at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
“We had a good National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund/Whelen Chevrolet today at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Heading into Turn 3 for the first time on Lap 1, a couple of cars in front of me made contact, which caused a chain reaction. I had nowhere to go and sustained a heavy amount of front-end damage. My No. 2 Richard Childress Racing team did an excellent job of repairing and getting us back on track. Even though the entire right front fender was gone, luckily, the steering wasn’t bent. I was able to pass cars to get back inside the top-15, and then Danny (Stockman) made a strategy call to stay out on the last round of pit stops. Restarting fourth, I knew I could still push, but with the damage, I couldn’t lead. I wanted to make sure I pushed a Chevrolet to the lead, so I tried to stick with the No. 16 car and help where I could. For the amount of damage we had, the car didn’t drive too bad all day. I’m proud of this team for fighting all day and coming home with a 13th-place finish in my first race here. I felt like we had a top-five car if not for the incident.”
-Jesse Love
Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet Team Earn Fourth Consecutive Top-10 Finish with Sixth-Place Result at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
“Another solid finish for our Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet team. We had to battle today at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but to have four consecutive top-10 results leading into the Olympic break is good momentum for our No. 21 crew. With returning to the oval for the first time since I joined Richard Childress Racing, we weren’t exactly sure how our car would react or how the race would play out. I think handling mattered more than anyone thought. During qualifying earlier this afternoon, I had a rough vibration. The team assessed the situation, and we ended up changing gears to fix the issue. Unfortunately, that meant we had to start at the rear. We knew it was going to be a process to get back up front, but it might have been a blessing in disguise considering the Lap 1 accident was exactly where we would have started. After the initial fire off, I was overall tight throughout the entire corner. I had to be easy on the throttle behind people, but the adjustments we made helped the balance. From start to finish, the car definitely improved which is a positive. There is still room for improvement, but we will take a few weeks off and get ready for the final push to the Playoffs.”
-Austin Hill
RCR PR
