Here's what the driver said afterwards: Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race in Phoenix.
Christopher Bell — Winner: “It's no secret that Phoenix has been a bit of a struggle for us. After the first year of Next Gen, myself and Adam (Stevens) had serious talks and said that the first two races of 2022 are going to be a bit of a struggle for us at Phoenix. I didn't feel like it, so I said we need to focus on Phoenix, and in 2023 it was Phoenix.Every time it got a little better and today was lights out, so today is a great day for the company. became.”
Chris Buescher — 2nd place finish: “I was really impressed with our Ford Mustang today, it was great. It made a great comeback after a tough few weeks. I'm proud that we were able to accomplish that. I know that the last 20 people who were there didn't see well, so they were lights out. How many things have to be done to get to that point? What I'm excited about is that our balance was never perfect, so there's a lot of room to improve on this, and that's great.”
This was Christopher Bell's seventh Cup Series victory.
Ty Gibbs — 3rd place finish: “Well, I think everyone at JGR and Toyota has done a great job with this new car. We’re happy with it, but we need to be a little bit better to be able to compete here and hopefully win. Yes, it's definitely a positive thing for me to take away from the last two races in Phoenix.”
Brad Keselowski — 4th place finish: “It was a good, fulfilling day for us. We want to win these races, but we were nowhere near as fast as the 20 cars. To be honest, we won I don't know if there are people out there. We just tried to put ourselves in a good position with a good pit call and a great restart at the end and go for it. The potential is there. We're one step closer. I’m there, so I’m going to keep working on it until I get there.”
Ryan Blaney — 5th place finish: “To be honest, it was a really long and tough day. I kept getting better and better and I thought I was getting better until stage two, but then I slipped on one of the restarts and lost about five places. With all these cautions we had to restart far behind the guys who had pit-stopped before us. We just tried hard to get back to fifth place from where we were. I’m exhausted. The most tired I’ve been in a while.”
Ross Chastain — 6th place finish: “We saved a lot of fuel in the end. We weren't the sixth place car. We had a lot of promise in qualifying yesterday, but it didn't come through. It was more than what I had. There is certainly work to be done. I want more. I don't like seeing them drive past us. On Tuesday I went back to the store to go to work, I’m going to prepare for Bristol.”
Michael McDowell — 8th place finish: “Overall, we started the first stage pretty well, finished in the top 10 and got some stage points. There we had a little accident at the pit stop and lost track position. . We lost track position due to loose firing, but we strategized and regained position in the end. It was nice to be back in position and end the day the same way we started it.”
Denny Hamlin said, “If you let off the gas more, it gives you a chance to catch up to the cars behind you.''
Chase Briscoe — Finished 9th: “I was 20th in the previous race, so it was a good day to finish in the top 10. I’m happy with the finish. I had good speed all weekend. I hope to have a better advantage throughout the race. There are things that can be cleaned up for the sake of it. I honestly thought the package would have been better, but the problem was the tires. The tires are very good, so I think it will definitely be better if you put this package on the right tires. . We still have work to do. It was hard to pass. We were all going at about the same speed, but I feel like it was a tire problem in the end.”
Noah Gragson — Finished 12th: “Looking back, I probably should have put two tires on because they finished there, but we keep moving forward and we keep learning. Every race. Every weekend. It's still early. Four races. It's a little disappointing as we've been in the top 10 for most of the day, but we're looking forward to either getting a good result or being disappointed in finishing 11th. That's exciting for our team. We want to continue to do that.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 22nd: “Crew chief Randall Barnett and the entire Zone team worked hard this weekend at Phoenix Raceway. They made a lot of changes from the Friday afternoon practice session to the race. Half the race. The car was feeling a little better at about 10, but it still lacked grip and needed clean air to get the front end of the car to spin better. We'll bounce back and get better, but there's still a lot to do. There are several.”
Justin Haley — Finished 24th: “I thought today was another good day, another good learning day. We went a little too far, a little too late. So we unloaded better and got the car in the right place before the race started. I need to keep trying to get into position, but I feel like I was more competitive than everyone else at the end. I'm looking forward to next week's short track. Bristol is a lot of fun so I'm looking forward to making further progress. I think we can find a good starting point.”
John Hunter Nemechek — Finished 25th: “I want to apologize to Joey (Logano) and those guys. I'm going to reach out to Joey. I'm probably going to reach out to Paul Wolfe and Roger Penske. I think I just made a bad decision. I put a lot of pressure on the brake pedal. I pressed hard, but I couldn't slow down and ended up behind him. That was my fault. I made a mistake and I have to learn from it and make it my own. It won’t.”
Josh Berry — Finished 26th: “I think on a day like today you’re going to take away more laps and experience with restarts and pit road and things like that. But today we definitely struggled on some runs more than others. But there's a lot to watch and learn so we can be better when we come back.”
Daniel Hemric — Finished 28th: “It wasn't the best day for us in Phoenix. Our No. 31 Poppy Bank Chevrolet didn't balance well, the wheels came loose, we couldn't right ourselves, and we fell into a little hole. We hope to learn from them and come back even stronger in the fall.”
Justin Allgaier crashed while leading five laps past the scheduled end of Saturday's Xfinity race.
Kaz Grala — Finished 30th: “Unfortunately, I just didn't have the pace at all. I felt like I was getting pretty balanced by the end of the race, but I still didn't reach the starting point and I fell further behind. Once again We'll go to the store and take a look. Our RFK friends had a great day so we thought we'd take a look and see what they had and if it would work for us. can.”
Erik Jones — Finished 31st: “Family Dollar's Toyota Camry wasn't bad, but it got back into the pack and reversed a certain strategy and lost the position. It was just a disappointing ending.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 32nd: “It's been a run of bad luck for the No. 3 Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet team. We got into the first wreck. We just hit the gas and couldn't get any speed up. The left front was pretty bad. Bristol We'll go and try to get back on track. After Las Vegas, we were heading in the right direction, so I hope Bristol is a good result for us.”
Corey Lajoie — Finished 33rd: “It was a shame that the day in Phoenix ended the way it did, getting caught in the restart after getting the lucky dog. We worked hard to get into position and set ourselves up for a good run to the finish. Unfortunately, the #22 car (Joey Logano) spun out and got nowhere, ending the day for the Group 1001 Chevrolet Camaro. I lost it.”
Joey Logano — Finished 34th: “I got hit from behind. It was just a really bad run, but I think John Hunter (Nemechek) behind me spun me out just as I was entering Turn 1. That's the reality. I just got hit from behind. I think it's just that. It's unfortunate. We weren't doing well anyway, but this doesn't make us better. We were just fighting for good fortune. When we got back there, everyone We didn't have a very good race and we got caught up in it.”
Derek Krause — Finished 35th: “It was a disappointing end to the day in the No. 16 Western States Flooring Camaro ZL1. With nowhere to go, I was rear-ended and the car in front of me slammed into me. I felt like we were OK. Due to the damage we sustained in the early stages of the race, it became quite tight. These cars are very stiff, so it was very difficult to overtake in traffic, but overall we managed to do a lot. I felt like I learned a lot and I look forward to continuing to grow with this team.”
Austin Cindric — Finished 36th: “I got caught three-wide and couldn't see in front of me because of the smoke. I hit the front left side and broke the suspension.”
