What drivers said at Kansas after Kyle Larson’s win
Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Kansas Speedway.
Kyle Larson — Winner: “I was trying really hard to pace myself because I believe that was our longest run of the day. I’d been struggling a little bit at the end of the runs. Chase was really good, so I just felt like I needed to try to be better on my end. I don’t know if it was paying off or not at the end. I was still struggling. I don’t know if the right front was starting to wear a lot or what, but I was starting to lose a lot of grip and then I was vibrating really bad, so I was afraid a right rear or something would let go. But yeah, great car, great execution today, too, for our team. … Glad to not win by an inch right here this time and a little bit safer gap. But thanks again to the team.”
Christopher Bell — Finished 2nd: “I didn’t feel like we were very good today. We qualified well, had good pit stops – never really had any issues to set us back, but on the track, we were constantly going the wrong direction instead of going forward, but everyone fought hard on this Reser’s Camry and got us a good finish. I don’t know. I’m sure I will be a lot happier about it tomorrow and later in the week, but just didn’t feel like we were very good, and we were still right there, so I think that is a testament to how good this team is.”
Ryan Blaney — Finished 3rd: “Overall good day. I think we were third in both stages and finished third, and honestly we were kind of running those guys down quick there at the end the last handful of laps. I just kind of restarted too far back and had to make up a lot of ground. It took a lot for my car to come in. I think five more laps, I think I probably would have scared the 5 a little bit at least. But no, really proud of the 12 boys today. … Really good last couple weeks bringing fast race cars. Hopefully we can continue to do that, keep learning and move forward, but overall a really good weekend.”
Chase Briscoe — Finished 4th: “We just started in the back, so it made it tough to know what we needed. Even that first stage, we had a terrible pit stop during the green flag pit cycle and we came out about three-quarters of a straightway behind the 5 (Kyle Larson) car and we were able to run him down and pass him and get back on the lead lap, then in the second stage, we kind just lost our magic, I felt like, and then finally the third stage, we kind of found it back and our car started going forward again and was able to go from 17th or 18th back up to fourth. I would have loved to have track position all day – that is the name of the game half of the time, but overall great Bass Pro Shops Toyota. We needed just a good solid run like this, so that helps.”
Alex Bowman — Finished 5th: “Not to crash the car on the Stage Two restart. We were really good before that, and then we destroyed the race car – the toe’s knocked out of it and the body was killed. While it might not look destroyed and we still ran fifth, these things are just super sensitive. It’s a bummer that happened. You just don’t get many race cars that are that good. We had one last weekend (at Texas Motor Speedway) and we didn’t capitalize on it. We had one at Bristol (Motor Speedway) and didn’t capitalize on it. Today, we ended up with a top-five, but I don’t feel like we capitalized on it. I’m frustrated on that side of things, but super proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. It’s not something we did or that the car did. Two guys under me decided to drive us straight into the fence. That’s Next Gen racing, though. The restarts get pretty crazy, and unfortunately, it just kind of hurt the rest of our day.”
John Hunter Nemechek — Finished 10th: “We’ve made a lot of gains for sure. Last week was a really good showing, had speed. This week, both cars had speed as well. Luckily, we were able to come home 10th in our Dollar Tree Camry. I like it. I like that we have decent speed. Solid day, solid effort. It wasn’t pretty – that is for sure, but we were able to maximize our finish and come home 10th.”
Corey Heim — Finished 13th: “I think from the very beginning I was trying to settle in. Such a different experience than my Truck Series regular style driving. Such a different approach with aero balance and trying to find clean air and trying to get grip. It is tough. We are at the top level, and I had to settle in. It has been about a year since I drove one of these things. First stage was messy to say the least. I went a lap down, but the team stuck with me and made really good adjustments, and we climbed back through the field all day. … Just proud of the consistent progress, and team definitely stuck with me in the first stage. It wasn’t pretty on my part, but grateful for everyone believing in me and grateful for the opportunity.”
Shane van Gisbergen — Finished 20th: “That was a decent finish for how it felt. My SafetyCulture Chevrolet definitely got better there at the end. The team made adjustments that helped me get more comfortable with the car. Just going to keep learning and making progress on the ovals.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 21st: “Tough weekend for our No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet. I was happy with it in practice, we had really good long run speed. I got in the fence on my qualifying lap, fortunately it didn’t hurt the car, but it put us at the back to start the race. We made some good progress and were in a good spot for a decent finish when I got spun out. Not much we could do after going a lap down to put tires on it. Not the finish we deserved today.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 22nd: “It was a tough day for our No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet team at Kansas Speedway so a 22nd-place finish is actually pretty good considering how challenging the race was for our team. The handling of our Chevy was loose early in the race and then ended up too tight in Stage 2. Unfortunately, we got caught up in a late-race incident that caused significant damage to the nose and right side, which took away any chance of a competitive finish. I’m proud of everyone’s effort at Richard Childress Racing. The crew did a great job making repairs and getting us back out there. We’ll go back to the drawing board and come back stronger when we return to Kansas in the fall.”
Michael McDowell — Finished 23rd: “Tough day for this No. 71 Gainbridge Chevrolet team. We just got behind a little bit those first couple of runs. We were really loose and corded the right-rear tire. We lost a lap, and then we just never really recovered from there. I thought we were going to get lucky there and get a caution near the end, but it didn’t work out. Just a struggle in the race, for whatever reason. We’ll go back and figure out what we need to do better. We fought hard; got one lap back, but needed to get two back. Just hate it for this team. We had really good speed yesterday, it just didn’t correlate to today.”
Cole Custer — Finished 26th: “The team fought hard all day. We didn’t have the speed we wanted, but I felt like we did a solid job of executing and brought home a decent finish. We’ll keep trying to get it better and continue to work in the right direction.”
Jesse Love — Finished 29th: “Our weekend started out strong with a solid practice in the C4 Ultimate Energy Chevrolet. The car had top-15 pace and I thought we could have a really good race. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way for our No. 33 team. The balance fired off on the loose side and during our first scheduled green flag stop, I drove through too many boxes on exit which forced us to do a pass through under green. From there, it was a battle. When the right rear tire would burn off, the car didn’t have any security. Andy Street (crew chief) and the team kept working on it during every stop. We took the wave around at one point and regained a lap with a timely caution. While the result wasn’t what we wanted, I’m still very appreciative of the opportunity to drive in the Cup Series. I’ve learned a lot about these cars in a short period of time.”
Erik Jones — Finished 32nd: “We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I felt like we were making progress in that final stage after fighting a tight Toyota Camry XSE pretty much all day. We caught a break in the final stage when we took the wave around to get our lap back and caught a quick caution. Just got caught in a bad spot on a restart and killed the car. I wish we could’ve gotten a better finish for AdventHeath to thank them for all their support, but things didn’t go our way.”
Bubba Wallace — Finished 33rd: “Not really sure (what happened). Not sure if the 67 (Corey Heim) got into somebody, and I just tried to hang a left and stay in the gas and I got clipped in the right rear. It’s unfortunate. I hate it. It all stems back from our penalty earlier on. We tried so hard to fight back, but it wasn’t meant to be. We had a lot of confidence coming into this race. Felt good about it (Saturday), but just not our day. Not our last couple of weeks.”
Daniel Suarez — Finished 34th: “He (Ty Dillon) was on new tires and drove into the corner and wrecked the No. 51 (Cody Ware) and myself there. We were just in the wrong place there, but at the end of the day, it’s our fault. We shouldn’t be in those positions and in those situations. I thought our No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet had decent speed, but we never had a shot. We just fired off today very, very off balance. We were super, super tight. Eventually, we got it a little bit better, but our car was just off on balance. I feel like our car had potential, but we just didn’t do a good job with our adjustments overnight.”
Denny Hamlin — Finished 36th: “I think eventually just broke the transaxle trying to leave the stall there. Unfortunate for the Progressive Toyota team. Really fast again – just can’t keep it together right now.”
