In yet another overtime finish, it was Chevrolet that prevailed with JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. taking the checkered flag in the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The victory – his fourth in NASCAR’s top division – marked Chevrolet’s 14th NASCAR Cup Series win this season, with Stenhouse Jr. becoming the eighth different driver to contribute to the manufacturer’s series-leading win count.
· Stenhouse Jr. capped off Chevrolet’s fourth tripleheader sweep of the 2024 season, with JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith earning a spot in the Xfinity Series’ Round of 8 with his win in Saturday’s United Rentals 250, and CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger becoming the first driver to advance to the Craftsman Truck Series’ Championship 4 with his win in Friday’s Love’s RV Stop 225. Chevrolet continues to be the only manufacturer to drive to a tripleheader sweep this season – also accomplishing the feat at Daytona International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.
· Among the four playoff contenders that earned points in both stages included Team Chevy’s William Byron and Kyle Larson. Escaping the big, late-race accident unscaved, the pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates went on to collect top-five results. Byron’s podium finish was enough to clinch a spot into the Round of 8. Larson earned his career-best Talladega Superspeedway finish of fourth-place finish, with the 32-year-old Elk Grove, California, native now sitting third in the playoff standings and 52 points above the elimination line.
· An unapproved adjustment forced Team Chevy playoff driver, Daniel Suarez, to drop to the rear and serve a pass-through penalty on the opening lap. After already having an early uphill battle, the No. 99 Tootsie Orchid Lounge Chevrolet team sustained damage in an accident after attempting to blend back into the pack. Unable to get back onto the lead lap, the race continued to unravel when the 32-year-old Monterrey, Mexico, driver was caught up in the massive wreck with just four laps remaining. Ultimately collecting a 26th-place result, the Trackhouse Racing title contender will head into the Round of 12 elimination race 10th the playoff standings with a 20-point deficit to the elimination line.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER HEALTH / PALMOLIVE CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 1st
“It felt really good. We had our Chevy teammates behind us, and I was hoping Kyle (Larson) wasn’t going to push the 6 that hard. I knew the 24 was probably going to try and get to the line there.
But, man, this team has put a lot of hard work in. Obviously we haven’t won since the 500 in ’23. It’s been an up-and-down season. It was a lot of hard work this season just trying to find a little bit of speed, but we knew that this track is one of ours to come get. So for all of our Southern Mississippi people, appreciate you all coming. This means a lot, winning here.
Got to say we’re thinking about everybody in Western North Carolina. Brad Dougherty, his family right where he grew up there in Black Mountain, a lot of people are struggling.
I wish my wife and son, Stetson, were here. They didn’t come this weekend. I’ll see you all at home, and man, what I day.
Just proud of this group. The whole Kroger, Palmolive, NOS Energy Drink. There are so many people. SunnyD. There are so many people that helped this. You know, Campers Inn. Man, there’s just so many great product partners in this Kroger program. Glad to give them another win.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 BUSCH LIGHT CAMO CAMARO ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident at the end of Stage Two.
Finished: 40th
WHAT WAS YOUR TAKE ON THE CONTACT THAT HAPPENED AT THE END OF STAGE TWO?
“I’m not sure what happened there with those guys down there in the middle line. Coming into the tri-oval, I followed the No. 8 Chevy (Kyle Busch) and pushed him in the third lane; fanned out to push a Chevy. And yeah, somebody got shucked up. Seeing Ryan (Blaney) in there, I’m guessing he was the yellow blur that I saw.
For our No. 1 Busch Light Camo Chevy team, to kickoff hunting season with the camo can, I wish we were more invisible like we will be in the woods with that can than we were there coming to the end. Big hit, but these Next Gen cars are super safe. It kept me safe and they got the fire put out. We’ll go on to next week and get ready for Charlotte.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 4th
Did you feel like you had anything for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. there at the end? Talk about your decision with your lane choice on that last restart?
“I have to choose the closest to the front, so I was going to go wherever the No. 24 (William Byron) didn’t go. I was happy to be on the bottom. If I could have chose outside or inside, even if I was in third-place to chose, I would have chosen the bottom. It was working. I got the No. 6 (Brad Keselowski) clear of the No. 47 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), which is what I wanted to do. I was anticipating the No. 47 having a run back, and I was hoping that Brad would take that and I could kind of be leading the bottom lane. But yeah, he stayed down low. I’m happy to finish in the top-five. We’ll take it.”
This track hasn’t been kind to you. To get your second top-five finish here in your career, what does that say about your day?
“It’s my second top-five on a superspeedway in my career, in general, so I’ll take that. It’s really cool. Obviously there’s a lot of luck that plays into just finishing these races. I’m not going to blame my whole superspeedway career on bad luck because I know that’s not the case when we finish as bad as we do, as often as we do, on these. I feel like we do a great job and today just showed that. We came from the back of the first stage and had a shot to win the stage. The second stage, we executed as good as we could and got some points. And then there at the end, got lucky on the backstretch finally and got a good finish. I’m proud of the effort from all of Chevrolet, all the key partners and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We had a great Chevy and great power. It’s cool to finally go into the Charlotte ROVAL with a 52-point gap. That race is so stretch. It’s way more stressful to me than Talladega Superspeedway, so glad to not have to worry about it as much.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 29th
“I thought Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) and I had a really good system going there. I was really pleased with my spot. I thought I had a lot of what was going to transpire, was in my hands, which is what I want at the end of these things. Unfortunately what was in my hands ended up biting us. I don’t really know what you do about that. We were in a good position. The No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevy team executed a good second-half of the race. We were right there when it counted.
I’m not sure how I got clipped. I thought I had it missed. Somebody just barely clipped me and it sent me spinning.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 3rd
Byron on the overtime finish that resulted in a third-place finish for the No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet team:
“I didn’t have a chance to get the lead myself on the last lap, so that was the thought process. I just couldn’t quite get him clear into (turn) three, or he didn’t take it into three. And then, I just kind of had to be diligent to push him the rest of the way. I felt like it all worked out. I’m happy for Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) and everyone at Chevrolet. They deserve it. Ricky is a really good drafter.”
DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 31 CIRKUL CAMARO ZL1
Sidelined by damage sustained in the accident with four laps to go.
Finished: 38th
What was your view of this massive wreck on the backstretch?
“Unfortunate end to a really solid day. I’m proud of everyone on this No. 31 Cirkul Chevy team. We had a really fast qualifying effort to put us in the top 10 to start. Unfortunate that it turned out the way it did. I thought I had a hole and just ripped around the top, but the two slid back up. I hate that for the team, but I’m super proud of these guys. We have five more opportunities to do something special as a team.
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
Finished: 16th
“We had kind of gotten pretty far back in track position obviously; got stuck in the fourth lane and that just killed us. Just overall kind of disappointed in myself. I made the wrong move a lot, and I crashed the No. 12 (Ryan Blaney with just a crappy push. Obviously just trying to push him to try and help our lane for the Stage and just hit him in the wrong spot. I hate that I did that. I hate that I made the wrong decisions that I did, and I didn’t do a very good job today. Frustrated because we had a really good Ally Camaro today. The team did a really good job, and we obviously had moments where we were really good. But just execution-wise, I made too many mistakes and put us in too many bad spots. Obviously hate that I ruined some other guys’ days too.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 TOOTSIES ORCHID LOUNGE CAMARO ZL1
Finished : 26th
“It was a very difficult day for the No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevy team. We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole with the pass-through penalty. We had a plan and I was expecting everyone to be saving fuel, and I was going to be able to block the lanes and stay in the pack. I just made a mistake. I tried to block when they were coming, but they were just coming too fast. That was on me. We put ourselves in a hole, and unfortunately we weren’t able to recover. And then in the last wreck, obviously that finished killing our chances.”
What’s your strategy for next weekend?
“I don’t know yet. We’ll have to talk about it.”
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