Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

What drivers said after Martinsville

8yWBv7ket8ms
Chase Elliott says the contact between him and Denny Hamlin was unnecessary during the final laps of the First Data 500 at Martinsville.

What drivers said after the First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the opening race of the third round of playoffs.

KYLE BUSCH - Winner: “Awesome to get to victory lane here at Martinsville. You know, I wanted to win Charlotte, Martinsville and Homestead and that’ll make us this year’s champions, so we’ve got one more. Just wanted to say our guys did an awesome job preparing this car. We weren’t the best all day, but we put ourselves in the right spots there at the end and there was kind of chaos ensuing and none of it was our fault, we just came out on the right end of the stick. Can’t say enough about NOS Energy Drinks, Cessna, DVX Sunglasses. My son Brexton’s at home, he’s not here with us this weekend, so want to say hey to him, we’ll see you later tonight buddy. Looking forward to going to Homestead.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR. -- Finished 2nd: “You know, to run second here is awesome. I think we had a fifth- or sixth-place car all day long. We couldn’t quite get better than that, but I’m really proud of that effort for everybody - for all our guys. So we fought hard all day, we didn’t give up and we had a shot at it there (on) the last lap. Got inside of Kyle (Busch), just couldn’t get the power down off of (Turn) 4. I didn’t want to be the one to knock him out-of-the-way for the win. Maybe I should have, but I don’t know. Those guys kept knocking each other out-of-the-way up there in the front, I’m not sure that’s the way to do it.”

CLINT BOWYER – Finished 3rd: “It seems we’ve been struggling here lately trying to get some consistency in there to say the least, but fell back and got back up through them. Then we had some more trouble and we’d gain some and lose some, gain some and lose some and we finally got there at the end. I wish they would have got into each other one more time and I just went ahead and finished the last one off if it was down to one, but it’s just a product of that situation. Those guys are racing for a lot, there’s a lot on the line and you know on a green-white-checker at a place like this all hell is gonna break loose. The only thing I can say is why we don’t race at night is beyond me here. You should definitely utilize those lights for something other than a green-white-checkered because it’s pretty damn cool under the lights.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI – Finished 4th: “I just knew I got in the corner and he was inside me and we had contact. I haven’t seen anymore of that to really have any clarity to it. The track is just real slick on the restarts for everybody. You saw that. It takes about five laps for anyone to get going or more, especially the leader, but there was a lot of hard fighting here because it’s a short track. That’s what short tracks are kind of about is rooting and gauging. You try not to take anybody out, but you’ve got to sometimes rub a little bit.”

KEVIN HARVICK - Finished 5th: “Four races to go at Martinsville, playoff time and everybody is trying to get everything they can. It was a crazy finish. But for us our goal was to score stage points. I think we scored (four) stage points and got a top-five. My goal was a top 10. The goal was to not lose it today. I’m really proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing. They built this car in two weeks after our test. We were way more competitive here. And as you look at the results, they show it. We have bent up fenders but it looks like the whole field does.”

DENNY HAMLIN - Finished 7th: “Well (Chase Elliott) said I wrecked him and obviously, you know Ray Charles saw that. Obviously it wasn’t intentional, I wanted to move him out of the way and there was just not enough grip on the race track for him to save it. There’s no difference, he washed the 2 (Brad Keselowski) up the race track as well. I mean, we can play favorites with who we want. Unfortunately, this is a ticket to Homestead at stake.”

RYAN BLANEY – Finished 8th: “I felt the first half of our day was pretty good. We lost a lot of handle in the second half after the second stage and really were struggling. On short runs I thought we were OK for 20 laps or so, but the last handful of restarts were just pandemonium. It was pretty ridiculous with everyone wrecking each other and running into each other. I thought we were gonna make it through the last one, but we just kind of got caught up off of four in all that stuff. At least we salvaged a decent day.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR. - Finished 11th: “Yeah, we ran pretty good there toward the end of the race. I liked the car. We were sitting there on that long run saving the rear tires. If it would have went green we were going to get a bunch of cars. But, just had that caution when the No. 66 (Carl Long) blew the tire, so we had to run hard for the rest of the race. But, man I can’t believe how everybody crossed the finish line. I ain’t seen nothing like that ... I don’t know if I ever have seen it. Trying to think back. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like that. There was a wreck one time at Richmond before they ever reconfigured it in the Xfinity race on the front straightaway in like 1982… that is the only thing I ever seen like it. But, crazy finish. Decent run. I think that is, let’s see, 12th place is our worst finish in the last six weeks, pretty decent for us this year.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON - Finished 12th: “We were just terrible all day. Oh, what a bummer. We had high hopes for this weekend. Man, it just didn’t turn out so well. So, we scored some points here and there. We will go to the next one and try to get more.”

JOEY LOGANO – Finished 24th: “I was passing the 24 (Chase Elliott). I had a good run on him and the 18 (Kyle Busch) sent it three-wide. I tried to give him room and he slid up. I don’t know. I have to watch the replay, but he slid up and got up in the left rear and cut it down.”

CHASE ELLIOTT - Finished 27th: “We had a great car today and we had an opportunity. We had a good restart there at the end and felt like I was doing what I needed to do. And I can’t control (Denny Hamlin’s) decisions and whatever the hell that was. We’re on to Texas.”

TY DILLON - Finished 30th: “Our No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS was just a bit tight in the center of the corners tonight, but the crew made some good adjustments for that. We were able to run competitive speeds during the long green flag runs. Unfortunately, it was an uphill battle for us after we had the early problems. We knocked a hole in the left front and sustained some left rear damage when we were part of the first caution, then we ended up getting a flat left rear tire. We were never able to get all those laps back.”
KYLE LARSON — Finished 37th: “I just got tight up off (Turn) 2 and got into a lapper’s left-rear and I just spun really quick and hit the inside wall. Another Martinsville for us. I’ve got to figure out how to get around this place. I suck here.”