Here is what motorists needed to state after Sundays Southern 500:
Anytime you can win the Southern 500 is an excellent day. This is one of the most prominent races in our sport and this is one the most prominent racetracks in our sport, so anytime you can win at Darlington its a huge deal, but, man, Southern 500!”
MARTIN TRUEX Jr.– Finished 22nd: “Its Darlington and generally you dont desire to go in side-by-side. I felt like I had enough of a run and sufficient area there that the last foot or so he (Chase Elliott) was going to comprehend that if I was committed, we both werent going to make it. If a man gets a run on you and hes simply about got you cleared, you have to offer that last little bit.
Aric Almirola– Finished 9th: “We got in a little bit of a hole early in the race with some left-rear quarter panel damage that we had to fix on pit road and truly put us in a spot to where we could not take advantage of stage points, so that hurt us a bit just not scoring any phase points, however we were able to battle back from that and get back to the leading 10, which is where we seemed like we can running.”
Austin Dillon– Finished 2nd: “Man, it would have been good to get that win and lock ourselves into the next round of the NASCAR playoffs, however it was a heck of a finish for our No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet group. We had a really great long run automobile and towards the end of the race I understood Kevin Harvick was getting tighter each lap. We just required to get up front and get some tidy air. If a guy gets a run on you and hes simply about got you cleared, you have to provide that last little bit. Tyler Reddick– Finished 23rd: “Ive gotten to run a lot of cool races, but the Southern 500 has always been towards the top of the list for me, so it was really unique to be able to make my first start in it tonight.
Brad Keselowski– Finished 11th: “( Crew chief) Jeremy Bullins and everybody on the Discount Tire group did an excellent task tonight. I slipped up early in the race, but we worked together and made an excellent recovery.”
Chase Elliott– Finished 20th: “He (Martin Truex Jr.) had a run on me there off of 4 and he simply kind of cleared himself into one. I ran the bottom in three and four to see if there was anything left down there, thats what kind of offered him the run and then he just moved up in to my left front, I felt like and on we went.”
Kurt Busch– Finished 8th: “Im pleased with our run tonight with the Monster Energy Chevy. I know its not a win, but we got whatever out of the race that we were hoping for; except possibly the alternate technique that we were attempting with one stop in the last stage. I was confident for the long run. I like dancing with the Lady!”
Jimmie Johnson– Finished 18th: “That was not the outcome we desired, we had a quick Ally Chevy up until that last stage and it simply kept getting tighter, but my men simply keep combating. We will just concentrate on Richmond.”
Tyler Reddick– Finished 23rd: “Ive gotten to run a lot of cool races, but the Southern 500 has actually constantly been towards the top of the list for me, so it was actually special to be able to make my first start in it tonight. My group made some good modifications early in the run to tighten me up, however then the rear security of our Camaro ended up being actually unstable, which made it hard to handle the handling through the turns on both sides of the track. During the start of Stage 3, the field got stacked up on the reboot and I received some damage to the nose of our car, right above the grille.
Daniel Suarez– Finished 25th: “We made the many of what we had in our throwback CommScope Toyota tonight. We didnt have the speed we were expecting, but everyone did a good task turning us around into the ideal direction. We struggled to find grip in the start, when we were not too excellent on the brief runs but better on the long terms. When the track changed– we were pretty great on the short run however then too complimentary over the longer run, that changed. Im happy of Dave (Winston, team chief) and the people for their tough work making the vehicle better at the end of the race.”
Annoyed to be honest with you. At the end, the left-rear (tire) was about to fall off of it, so weve got to clean some things up. We cant make these errors.”
We just never got up front. We simply needed to get up front and get some tidy air. We simply never ever got to the lead.
Austin Dillon– Finished 2nd: “Man, it would have been good to get that win and lock ourselves into the next round of the NASCAR playoffs, but it was a heck of a surface for our No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet team. We fought truly hard all night for every single spot we might get. We had an actually good long run automobile and towards the end of the race I knew Kevin Harvick was getting tighter each lap.
John Hunter Nemechek– Finished 36th: “That certainly wasnt the way we desired to end our night driving Elliott Sadlers CITGARD throwback plan. Our No. 38 Ford Mustang fired off pretty tight however then I got looser as the run went on and the sun set. We had some actually good pit stops tonight and Seth (Barbour) and the team made some good modifications so that we had an excellent balance by the end of Stage 2. We had a miscommunication on track early in the final phase and that ended our day. I hate it for my men because theyve worked so hard all year and they never ever quit. Well reset today at the shop and prepare for Richmond.”
Ryan Blaney– Finished 24th: “Definitely wasnt our night for our Menards/Maytag group. We had the assessment penalty and lost points prior to the race started and had some bad breaks. Well prepare yourself for Richmond and Bristol and try to pick up speed back in the playoffs.”
It looks great. We need to come out of these playoffs running hard and having a solid leading 3 surface to start the playoffs with a couple phase points is a great method to start.”
Kyle Busch– Finished 7th: “Traffic was certainly our detriment, there was just nothing I could do to try to discover clean air in order to comprise any speed back in traffic so I just got bogged down any place the heck I was and that was it. Being out front in tidy air, I was able to run with Martin (Truex Jr.) and had a fast M&Ms Camry and could actually demonstrate how quick our vehicle was when we drove away from the field by a couple seconds there up until that care that NASCAR flew that was not a care.”
Ideally, we can put together much better, but Darlington certainly hasnt been our teams strong fit, so its just a matter of figuring out what I can do better and what we can get better with the vehicle.”
Bubba Wallace– Finished 38th: “We had some misfortune on our side. I do not truly understand what the main problem was that eventually led us to not complete the race. We started out good. Our people made some good changes on the vehicle and then got it better, and I was really happy with it. After we had our incident and went to the garage, we came back out and I thought our cars and truck was actually good. We just needed to make it through until it went to night time and I thought we might have put a good race together by that time, but it didnt work out.”
Michael McDowell– Finished 16th: “Well, that was a really favorable end to what started as a quite tough day for our No. 34 group. We didnt unload precisely how we had actually wanted to begin the race, but Drew (Blickensderfer) and the men did what they do best and made our race cars and truck a lot better by the time we took the green flag for the last stage. In general, it was a pretty decent points day and another top-20 to contribute to our season. I certainly wanted that top-15, coming up simply one position short; however well take what we can get.”
Alex Bowman– Finished 6th: “Sixth location isnt terrible, however male we had a fast Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE tonight in Darlington. We just got buried there, but thankfully recovered from it. It is an excellent feeling to have a good start to the playoffs.”
