· Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain drove his No. 1 Kubota Camaro ZL1 to a playoff spoiler in the Round of 12 opener at Kansas Speedway – his first trip to victory lane this season.
· The victory – his fifth in NASCAR’s top division – marked Chevrolet’s 13th NASCAR Cup Series win this season, with Chastain becoming the seventh different driver to contribute to the manufacturer’s series-leading 2024 win count.
· Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman each put together a strong points day, collecting top-10 results in both stages en route to a runner-up and sixth-place finish, respectively, at the 1.5-mile venue. The pair will head into the second race of the Round of 12 above the playoff cutline, with Byron taking the top position of the rankings (+34 points) and Bowman sitting in the sixth position with an eight-point advantage over the cutline.
· Kyle Larson endured yet another tough race to open the Round of 12. Entering the weekend back on top of the playoff points standings, Larson suffered a puncture in his right rear tire, forcing the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 into the wall early in Stage One. Despite making multiple trips to pit road under caution to make repairs, the Cliff Daniels-led team maintained a position on the lead lap and continued to keep working on their Chevrolet throughout the race. Salvaging a 26th-place finish, the former series champion leaves Kansas Speedway still above the playoff cutline – heading into the second race of the round in the fourth position with an 18-point cushion.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 KUBOTA CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 1st
“This is incredible! To drive into victory lane in the Cup Series, it’s just so challenging. It’s so tough. That process I talked about last year in Nashville, we all stayed on it. We haven’t gone anywhere. We keep showing up. It’s not easy when you’re failing or struggling at something, and you just can’t get to where you want to get to.
Our No. 1 Kubota Chevy today, we had what we needed to have, when we needed it. After practice and qualifying, I didn’t think we had the best car, but we kept working on it. I have to be honest; it was some of the most motivating on-radio stuff that Phil Surgen has ever had. We manifested the front-two rows when we weren’t up there, and then we manifested the front row and we took the lead on it. For everything that this means for Worldwide Express and Busch Light – a brand like that, to buy into me, it’s absolutely incredible.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 26th
“It was just a long day for our No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team. Our team did a really good job fighting and clawing to get better where we ended up. I was just really tight there on that last restart and gave up everything. I wish it would have just went green to the end, instead of having those couple cautions. It is what it is, but we’ll regroup and move on to Talladega.”
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 BETMGM CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 19th
Busch on the incident that took him out of the lead in the final stage:
“I don’t know.. I am sure he was racing to stay on the lead lap with whoever was in front of him there. Granted they have a race to run, but back in the old days when you were under 30 to go or whatever it was, lap traffic would kind of lay over and give you a lane and let the leaders race. I just wasn’t getting that, so I tried to force my hand into getting that and get to his outside, and for whatever reason, it just gave all the air in all the wrong places and I spun out.”
DO YOU THINK HE SHOULD HAVE GIVEN YOU SOMETHING BASED ON DARLINGTON?
“It doesn’t matter what I expect. I don’t think anybody gives anyone anything anymore. It’s all take, take, take.”
WAS THERE A POINT WHERE YOU THINK THIS IS MY DAY OR DO YOU NOT THINK THAT FAR AHEAD?
“I gave it one thought down the front stretch one time. But after that, I just kept trying to keep my focus on the race and the task at hand.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 9th
“We just had an uphill battle all day. I really thought out No. 9 UniFirst Chevy was pretty good. We were able to move forward a long ways it seemed like. Since we had a bad pit pick, ultimately it just puts you in a bad position to lose spots on pit road. It just seemed like we would get a bunch of spots on the track, and then lose a bunch of spots on pit road. We tried to claw our way back up into the top-10, so it was nice to at least get that far.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 2nd
WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE AT THE END AS YOU WERE TRYING TO GET THAT VICTORY?
“I don’t know. I think just him being able to get out front and control his pace definitely helped. Just kind of being stuck in his dirty air, it seemed like the top got really dominant there at the very end. The shade just started creeping in and it was just hard to work other lanes. That is probably some of it, but just a little bit here and there. Had a good restart and that was nice to go from third to second and to be able to chase him down, but just needed a little more.”
DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 31 SOUTH POINT HOTEL & CASINO CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 20th
“That was fun! Our No. 31 South Point Chevy showed a ton of speed today. After breaking a toe link and hitting the wall, the damage affected the maneuverability a bit, but I’m super proud of the No. 31 guys for staying focused and fighting to get back on the lead lap so we could compete in the final stage.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 6th
TALK ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS AND THE CONSISTENCY IN WHAT YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO SO FAR.
“Yeah, we have been okay, for sure. We have had a little better pace in the playoffs than where we were prior, and it’s made my job a little easier. So, yeah, we are not perfect by any means, and we have got a lot of things we need to improve on. But we are kind of headed in the right direction right now and doing the right things.”
WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT LAST RESTART? LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE IN GOOD POSITION ON THAT SECOND ROW.
“Yeah, I just got tight. I got really tight off of (turn) two and the hole kind of opened up to fill the middle. It was turning pretty well until pretty late, and it’s just kind of plugged the right rear and got tight. So, bummer there, but it was that or fall to 19th. So, at least we tried and had a shot at it. Just couldn’t make it happen.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL WALKING AWAY FROM TODAY?
“Frustrated, for sure, to see the clean air and see what we needed to do. But I would be more frustrated if I just rolled around pushing somebody. At least we tried and yeah, we want to be better than that and be able to pull that move off. We were close and just needed to be a little better.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 13th
“Our No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevy was pretty good yesterday, but today, we just missed it. We couldn’t make the front turn on the short runs, and we were way too free on the long runs. We just struggled with the balance all day. We didn’t feel very good. It was a decent finish, but I definitely feel like our Chevy had much more potential.”
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