Here’s what several drivers had to say after Sunday’s Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway:
Kyle Busch, 3rd: “Adam Stevens (crew chief) and the guys did a great job. What else could I say? They fought hard to battle back from being at the tail end (at the start of the race) and got a good points day out of it. So we’ll go on next week and go to Vegas and see if we can’t score a win in the hometown.”
Kurt Busch, 4th: “It was hard driving with the lower downforce. We had a really good car short-run speed; we just didn’t have it on the long-run speed. That is sometimes what happens to a pole-sitting car. You are feeling confident like ‘Hey alright’, but we were just too aggressive on the tires.”
Carl Edwards, 5th: “This is real racing. We’re driving hard. You can see the guys out here just digging for everything they’re worth. I’m worn out. That’s a tough race and just a lot of fun. … Atlanta, don’t ever pave this place, it’s a perfect race track. I hope the fans enjoyed the show.”
Kevin Harvick, 6th: “We had issues about the last three runs. I had to start driving the car different. It just required a little bit different handling. And then we had a slow pit stop there. We got way behind and the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) was way out front and I had to drive the car really hard and got the right rear burned up. We just didn’t execute today but everybody hung in there all day and we’ll keep at it.”
Martin Truex Jr., 7th: “I feel like we’ve started the season stronger than we ended last season. That’s exciting for all of us. They guys worked hard over the off-season to get ready. They deserve it and everybody at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) has really helped us along, helped us get off the ground strong and can’t thank them enough for that. Lot of exciting stuff going on and looking forward to going to Vegas next weekend, a place that’s been good to us the last couple years, and see if we can’t get to victory lane.”
Chase Elliott, 8th: “It was a solid day. I felt like on pit road, everything, Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made good adjustments, the race went smooth. Obviously, not a lot of restarts, so a lot of it was green flag runs, which was different. That is something that you don’t see a ton of. Like I said, just happy that we finished today. Better than last week.”
Team owner Rick Hendrick on Chase Elliott: “Chase impressed me today about as much as I’ve ever seen a young driver drive in a race with a low downforce car that he’s never been able to experience in a race before when he’s having to race Kyle Busch and the guys he was racing, Brad (Keselowski), all day long, never make a mistake, just as cool on the radio as any seasoned driver, getting great feedback. I am really excited about that young man in the future.”
Brad Keselowski, 9th: “We seemed to have real good short-run speed, but not very good long-run speed and we didn’t get a lot of short runs. The ones we did, we were able to drive to the front and that was a lot of fun. It was beautiful weather and a beautiful day for racing. That race felt like I was in 1975. That was kind of awesome. I should grow my sideburns out after that one. … I loved the way the cars drive. I understand that it takes more than my opinion to make the sport go round, but I thought it was awesome.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 10th: “All in all, I’m really happy with all the hard work that these guys put in. It’s only one weekend. I hope to get consistent with that and I’m looking forward to going to Vegas next week. … I thought (the low downforce package) was great. The tires being softer, Goodyear did a great job with the tires falling off a lot. It played a big role in the race. Cars would pass me early in the run, and I’d come back and get them late in the run. That’s really all you can ask for when you talk about racing, a racetrack and tires. It felt really good.”
Joey Logano, 12th: “That pass-through penalty is what set us down one lap and when you have green flag runs that are a couple hundred laps long, it never gives you an opportunity to get the lucky dog to get back on the lead lap. One mistake cost us a possible top-five finish and it felt like every bit of a top-five car, and maybe even better than that. I’m just frustrated with myself after that one because we don’t make mistakes very often on this 22 team and, I guess, for making a mistake and having a 12th-place finish isn’t that bad, but it kind of hurts when you know you had a better car.”
Aric Almirola, 15th: “This was certainly not the finish that we had hoped for. … We ran in the Top-20 all afternoon, and we had a competitive car. It was disappointing to have a wreck on the last lap, especially with how hard our team worked, but I know that we’ll be able to bounce back next week in Las Vegas.”
Ryan Blaney, 25th: “We were gonna run 13th to 15th, which would have been an OK day. … I didn’t know what happened initially (on last-lap accident), but I guess (Aric Almirola) got a big run off the top and I was inside (Ty Dillon) and got tagged in the back. That’s what they’re telling me and, unfortunately, that sent me around, which kind of stinks. We were just trying to salvage a decent day out of it and it just stinks to run all those laps and then get wrecked at the end of a race.”
Chris Buescher, 28th: “We had a long day. It was a long race. It changed a lot throughout every run, but all the guys worked really hard to try to improve this thing and get better as we go. I learned a lot along the way and I’ve got plenty to learn from for next time. It’s not the finish we wanted, but we keep getting better.”
Landon Cassill, 36th: “(On last-lap wreck) “They just kind of wrecked in front of me. I had the car slowed down to where I felt like I was going the pace of the wreck. It wasn’t clear in front of me yet, but it was gonna be because it looked like he was gonna go to the bottom and somebody hit me from behind. It was a frustrating way to end the day because it was a handful anyways. At that point, we did have a position to race for, but you didn’t want to risk anything. We just wanted to bring it home in one piece and we didn’t get to do that. I hate having a tore up race car, but maybe it will give us an opportunity to take a look at it and see what we can do to make it better.”
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