Here's what the drivers said afterwards: William Byron stopped Christopher Bell At the Circuit of the Americas.
William Byron — Winner: “Well, (Bell) was really fast at the end. The Toyotas had been running fast on long runs all weekend, so we were just trying to get a gap on short runs. Manage the tires. , keep the car in a good position. We definitely lost a lot of time in the last five laps, so there's still work to do.”
Christopher Bell — 2nd place finish: “Yeah. I mean obviously once you get close to him it's going to be hard to pass him but it took some mistakes. William is really, really good on road courses and today he was perfect in the big moments. Ta.”
On Sunday, William Byron won his second Cup of the season at the Circuit of the Americas.
Ty Gibbs — 3rd place finish: “Yeah, we were a little too loose in the right corner. I wish it was a little tighter, but we did a really good job today. My team did a great job. It was all about them. It’s a prop.”
Alex Bowman — 4th place finish: “I wouldn't say I'm exhausted. I'm just disappointed. Maybe I got stuck in traffic after the last pit stop. I ran too low on air and my rear tire hurt. That was the bad part. I got close to William (Byron) a little bit and then the rear tire went off. Yeah, I definitely had to manage it to a certain extent. There's no doubt that the tire was going to come off here. ”
Tyler Reddick — 5th place finish: “I didn't feel really bad in one spot. It just seemed decent. If they were going to leave me there, I'd run away. When I made a mistake at the beginning of stage three, I feel like I fell behind. After I put the tires on stage 3 and came back, it hurt a little bit. I thought we were pretty good, but I don't know. We worked on it and what I'm going to check to see if I was missing something, but at a racetrack this big, every little bit goes a long way.”
AJ Allmendinger — 6th place finish: “It was a really fulfilling day for the No. 16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet team. We started in 14th place but moved up to the top six or seven. Track position is very important. At one pit stop We got stuck there and lost about five or six places to the next group of cars. We were able to get through it and fight back. Kaulig Racing I'm really proud of everyone. Of course you always want to win, but we did as well as we could.”
Ross Chastain — 7th place finish: “It was an uneventful day for the No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet team. We flipped every stage and that helped us stay in the lead. When we were in the lead, it was like that all day long. It was too loose and I couldn't hold William (Byron) back. He was obviously really strong. I made a big adjustment at the last green flag stop and swung and went the wrong way. It definitely hurt our car. We were way back from where we were, but I'm proud of the effort. The speed of me and this No. 1 machine I’m proud of my recovery.”
Chris Buescher — 8th place finish: “We were behind the eight ball and had to drop to the back and couldn’t start from there. We had an unusual situation in practice and qualifying with a component failure. I'm proud of everyone on the Ford Mustang team for playing against them all day. That was the name of the game. We knew we were going to be in some really tough situations all day and we were going to have to make some bumps if we were going to compete for the win. I knew it was going to happen. I'm proud of the top 10 finish. It was a big gain as well. I learned some things and I'll be better next time.”
Kyle Busch — 9th place finish: “We had a good result today in the Mark III Employee Benefits Chevrolet and the pit road staff was consistent all day. We got loose early in the race and lost a lot of grip on the long runs. Stage 2 Although he was able to move into the top five early in the race, he spun and lost a lot of track position, causing him to fall back. Crew chief Randall Barnett said everyone on the No. 8 team, especially Great feedback on fuel efficiency at the end of the race. I hope this gets us back on track.”
Joey Logano — Finished 11th: “After overtaking a few cars, we always reversed the stage. We were aiming for the finish. 11th place, based on the way the season has gone so far, we worked hard to earn points. I probably left a few things behind in the stages, but overall I kept a decent pace until the end. Nothing to win, but if I could get into the top ten. I can take it and run with it to Richmond. I'm looking forward to it.”
Ryan Blaney — Finished 12th: “We didn't get off to a great start. We got some stage points in stage two, started stage three very well and ran into the low 10s, but then we passed someone and spun to 11th. That put me back. I then worked my way back through the field and finished 12th. I thought I did pretty well in the end, but I just couldn't start from the front. Spin. Being out didn't help. I probably could have run seventh or eighth, but I still have some work to do.”
Chase Briscoe — Finished 13th: “Our race overall was okay. When I started 31st, I was able to run as high as 17th for the first few laps and felt like I would be in a very good position at the end of stage one. I bottomed out well in the esses and the result was good. I missed a corner and that really changed the complexity of the whole race. I had to go back until the end, but from there I was back in the top ten. With only 8 cars left, I made a huge mistake and went into the dirt at Turn 8, allowing them to swallow me up in the last couple of laps. I thought the Mustang got even better throughout the day. I thought we definitely had a 10th place car, but the rest of the guys don't have anything else.”
Justin Haley — Finished 17th: “We had an okay day. I thought we gave it our all until the end, but we had a late pit stop and it just faded from there. We’re really happy with the result we got. Our team is very small, so we're doing the best we can. We're grateful to everyone at Ford and RFK for providing us with the information, and we're glad that we're beginning to apply it.”
The Next Generation era had 25 different winners in a 77 point race.
Shane Van Gisbergen — 21st place finish: “It's a tough day for the WeatherTech team. We struggled with several issues throughout the day, but we weren't able to overcome them all. We would like to thank Kaulig and everyone at Trackhouse for their hard work over the past few weeks. I’m going to try again later at Talladega.”
John Hunter Nemechek — Finished 22nd: “P22. I think it's a good finish. We always want more. Thank you, Romco. Thank you to all of our partners who took us to the race track and to everyone at Legacy Motor Club. I'm looking forward to Richmond next weekend – it's a good racetrack for me so I'll give it a go. ”
Ryan Preece — Finished 24th: “We just couldn't get track position. Every time we went there we had a spin or a wreck or whatever. We felt we had a pretty good race car, but nothing to show for it. There was nothing.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 26th: “The No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet team obviously didn’t get the finish we wanted at COTA. We got fifth place in stage points and then we came from behind. On the front end. I sustained some damage, but I was never able to fully recover from it. I spun out and had to conserve fuel on the last run, because I was able to give it my all on the last run. , we have to figure out what we could have done better. We're going to keep trying.”
Kamui Kobayashi — 30th place: “Overall I feel pretty good. I'm comfortable in the car. The pace was good, but no yellow. It's only the second time in my race that I didn't get a yellow. Two shots, then a yellow. No. It's a little disappointing, but at least I had fun, the Mobil 1 Camry felt good, and the pace was fast. This event was very disappointing because it damaged my race. ”
Erik Jones — Finished 33rd: “Overall it was a rough weekend, and the Family Dollar Toyota didn’t have the pace it needed and didn’t have a chance to use its strategy as the race went green. We learned a lot on the first road course of the year, so we hope to see it next time. I hope we can improve further.”
Noah Gragson — Finished 35th: “We struggled from the beginning. We made some gains early in the race, but then we fell back. We knew our pace was a little off and probably worse than in practice, so we started Stage 2. I went back to pit road at the end and made some major changes to my setup and decided to go wholesale and give it my all. I was hoping to get a caution at the end and reverse it, but I can't do that. It was definitely a tough day, but I'm still proud of everyone on this team. It was a long day with nothing to show for it.”
Josh Berry — Finished 36th: “Throughout the race we got better. The last lap time was pretty good. We just needed to be a little more careful to put everything together and increase our chances of winning. We had a tough weekend, so we knew it was going to be difficult, but… I learned a lot and will be even better next weekend.”
Daniel Hemric — Finished 38th: “The first two stages were decent, but the last stage was really disappointing for us. The No. 31 Circul Chevy felt pretty good and we got some stage points. We took a big hit and , had to hold out until the end. Hopefully we can turn our luck around next week in Richmond.”
