Following the Cup race at Richmond Raceway on Sunday night, these are the drivers’ comments.
Winner Austin Dillon: “It’s my first time, but winning feels good.” The good Lord above has just bestowed to us today after the season we had.
We drove a quick No. 3 Chevy from Bass Pro Shops, and I was sorry to see the warning emerge. As I approached the final corner, I had no choice but to go all in since I knew it would be crazy.
We have a rare opportunity, therefore my family, RCR, and our partners want us to take advantage of it by going out and trying to win. I simply had to mail it, then.
Denny Hamlin – Placed 2nd: “In NASCAR, it’s fair, even though it’s obviously foul.” It is an alternative league. Since there are no consequences for reckless driving or anything similar, Austin (Dillon) is free to act however he pleases.
My issue is that I’ve become re-hooked in my right rear. He turned left as I was going about my business, hooked me in the right rear, and completely destroyed my shoulder. I’m not sure.
What occurred won’t matter in the record book. He will receive a victory credit. He simply won’t go very far because you have to make up for things like that, but I can see it because it’s worth it because they moved up 20 spots in the standings. No malice is intended.
I understand. I really detest having been a part of it. Though I understand why, it would have been nice if I hadn’t been one of the two guys taken out on the final corner. I’m not required to concur with it, though. We are going to discuss it tomorrow.
Third-place finisher Tyler Reddick said, “Yeah, Joey (Logano) stole the words right from me.” That maneuver is just what it is. Incredible. I suppose I can understand the first one about Joey attempting to win the race.
They’ve always taken a very firm stance against me right hooking people, and I’ve received threats of suspension for doing so. I’m not sure. It is one thing to race hard for the victory. Another is just straight-up right-hooking someone.
That may sound a little prejudiced coming from me regarding my boss, but I would also be pretty furious about it if I were in his position. Because winning races is such a big deal, people will go crazy and start doing absurd things. I’m pleased for his group. Many wonderful folks on his team. That was quite absurd.
Bubba Wallace, who placed fourth, said, “Our team worked hard to get here because we knew we had to work coming in, obviously being below.” We battled valiantly. On pit road, it was not our greatest day. not for lack of trying. I’m grateful that they improved all night.
They kept us in it and arrived when it mattered on the final stop. Just performance. Our Toyota Camry in Leidos was far too baggy. Right at the beginning of practice, I attempted to bite my tongue.
It was challenging and undoubtedly hurt us in the race, but we persisted in improving it and I did my best to provide the best criticism I could. just carried out all night.
I am grateful for my team’s effort. It’s nice to finish in the top five and leave here. There is still much to be done. All we can do is keep fighting. You could probably just rear someone and dump them and be fine. Funny how that operates.
Carson Hocevar: Placed eighth: “The Delaware Life Camaro ZL1 with number 77 was quite impressive.” Although our qualifying performance wasn’t spectacular, we eventually placed in the top 15 and eventually the top 10. This is enormous for us, considering where we were in the spring and where we have gone on short tracks.
Being in the top 10 is a significant accomplishment, and the Delaware Life/Spire Chevrolet team should be very proud of their excellent transition from finishing in the nearly upper 20s to a single digit position.
Daniel Suarez: Placed 10th: “It was an enjoyable race!” These alternative tires were incredible, so I’m not sure what NASCAR and the fans would prefer if they weren’t fond of them. The plan greatly influenced everyone’s actions, including our own agendas and our own actions.
It was enjoyable. The No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevy was quick, and I liked it. The guys’ work on the strategy was outstanding. We gave it a try and finished in 10th place, so unfortunately it didn’t work out in the end.
Ryan Blaney: Placed eleventh: “I felt like we had a pretty solid night overall. We lost seven seconds due to a bad pit stop, which really damaged us.
Before the final warning, we managed to recover and place in the top 10, finishing in 11th place. It was a terrific night all around. It wasn’t horrible, but I do believe it might have been better.
Kyle Busch: Finished in 12th place: “We had a decent night at Richmond Raceway in our Cheddar’s Patriotic Camaro overall. We were able to unlap ourselves and gain a few spots when the race went into overtime because of the way it concluded.
Tonight’s plan and improvements to the car were expertly executed by crew chief Randall Burnett and the entire Cheddar team. We were a handful in the beginning, but we improved significantly by the finish. Congratulations to Austin Dillon, a teammate of mine, for winning. He capitalized on being in a position to win tonight and played incredibly well all weekend.
Josh Berry: Final 14: “It went well. Although we suffer a little bit more than we anticipated, we still had a solid race overall. We’ll just build on that and head to Michigan because we finished strong while staying on the lead lap.
Michael McDowell: Finished in 15th place: “Everyone on the Love’s RV Stop Ford Dark Horse team deserves a lot of pride.” I had to race the 24 and 77 pretty hard to finish in the top ten on the run before the yellow. Back then, we were too carefree.
In the end, we tried two tires and finished in the top 15. Travis made a wise decision to take reds early on. From free pass to seventh, we went. That altered our evening and made us competitive.
Joey Logano: Completed 19: “It seems to be alright. What words do you like me to use? It appears that he can wreck someone fully from five car widths behind and then ruin another one to the line; we’re going to call that racing.
That’s three or four car lengths ahead into three when you get that far ahead. I backed up the entry as well. I said to myself, “I’ll just wrap this bottom.” I’m doing well. And he simply drives in very quickly. He obviously had no intention of racing because he hit me and knew he would win.
As a result, he didn’t make the turn. On the rematch, I defeated him handily, and he simply used a clumsy move. He’s a piece of crap. He sucks.
He’s sucked his whole career and now he’s gonna be in the playoffs. Good for him, I guess.”
Noah Gragson: Finished in 20th place: “We were really proud of our group, but we just kind of struggled all weekend and needed forward drive.” We improved the car, but we were a little behind schedule all day. We’ll continue since we’re quite excited to visit Michigan the following weekend.
Chase Briscoe: placed 21st: “Given the racing conditions we’ve had here at Richmond, it’s been difficult to pass. I’m not sure how it looked outside the vehicle, but it seemed like a lot of guys were moving forward and backward inside the car.
It undoubtedly gave the race a fresh look and different tactics. If we continued to use the soft tire the entire way, I’d be curious to see how we would all turn out. I believed that to be acceptable.
Ty Dillon: Finished in 26th place: “It was not the exact race we were hoping for, but we gave it everything we had over a lengthy, caution-free race.” We put forth a lot of effort, and I think we performed well when it was required. Every race I do with Kaulig Racing, I get better. We go on to the next one with P26.
Justin Haley: Finished in 27th place: “Our Pinnacle Home Improvement Ford Mustang Dark Horse was good enough to do what it needed to do, but Richmond is such a tough track.”
Daniel Hemric: Placed 30th: “A challenging evening in Richmond.” Congrats to RCR and Austin (Dillon) on their victory; it means a lot for the alliance. We will undoubtedly need to refocus, but maybe the No. 3 car’s performance tonight may benefit us in the future on short courses.
Riley Herbst: Finished 33rd: “I’ve always enjoyed racing at Richmond in the Xfinity Series, but the Cup Series is a whole different game. It took a while for me to really get a good idea of how the track was changing and what that was doing to the car. Things happen so quick that it’s hard to come back from a couple of laps down, but we ran every lap and that’s exactly what I needed to do in my first Cup race here.”
Martin Truex Jr: Finished 37th: “It hiccupped once going down the backstretch, and then it started missing. It’s like it broke a valve spring or something and then it kind of self-disintegrated, self-destructed really quickly. I don’t know. One of those them days.”
