What Drivers Said: All-Star Edition

Ryan Blaney – No. 12 Menards Ford – WINNER:

“We were cruising there and I just wanted to get to the white one to cover it and then the caution came out of four. I thought it was like any other race. That rule was never passed on to us. I’ve already got my window net to taken down and all. My left arm is worn out from trying to get that damn thing back up. I’ve rigged it enough to where it left halfway. I appreciate NASCAR for not letting us come to the pit lane to fix it and let me cut it back to where we could stay there. This Mustang was a rocket ship. I’m really glad we finally won that after that last caution. I’m so proud of everyone. Tonight is going to be fun.”

How important was the job position? “It was huge. I felt like I was fine with restarting, it just felt like the bottom launched better. It was a lot of pushing and luckily the last restart Austin (Cindric) gave me a great push, almost too good a push as he let me jack up a bit to the side. I missed the corner but was able to get up in front of the 11. The push was enormous. The track control was great, but a good push certainly helps.”

Three Penske Fords in the top four. How does that feel? “I feel like some of the guys had problems tonight, but honestly I felt like our car was probably the fastest of the night. The 18 and 5 both looked good but I felt like we were with them. We came here with a bit of a new mindset about things to try and how to do things and it’s nice to know that it worked and that our car was really fast, so hopefully we can build on that.”

Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Fedex Toyota – finished second:

What did you need on the last reboot and what do you think of the window grid situation with Ryan Blaney? “I just had to stay next to 12 (Ryan Blaney). You know, it’s hard because he deserved to win the race, but if you screw up and break a rule – not intentionally, but there are rules and we have rules for safety. My crew chief is taking four weeks off for safety reasons. I nearly crashed it off turn two when I was squeezed there. If I send him into traffic and he doesn’t have a window, what’s good? Fortunately, that didn’t happen and NASCAR is avoiding another controversy because there was no wreckage in a car without a window net.”

Do you think Ryan Blaney should have been given a black flag? ‘That’s the rule. I don’t know what we’re talking about here. This is not my judgment. This is just, that’s the rule. It’s too bad for him. Very sad for him, but it’s the rule. You have to abide by the rules.”

How was your race in general tonight? “Our car was good. We lost the handle there with a few more runs to go and just really started to get loose. The further up front we were, the looser we became. We had a chance and I got right where I wanted to be on the 12 (Ryan Blaney) there and I got to his outside and he just kept going up, up, up and I just couldn’t stay all the way there. I think he would come up no matter what, and we would probably crash because he knew we were in a bad place. Got a really good run through one and two and I couldn’t ask for much more there. I just didn’t have Daniel (Suarez) pushing me forward and unfortunately I couldn’t get as close to him as I needed to because of that.”

Was the final warning your only chance to beat Ryan Blaney? “I thought it was a chance, otherwise the 12 would win the race and he was probably 100 meters away, I don’t know. I’m just frustrated we have a rule. It cannot be a convenience rule. We’re taking four weeks off, my crew chief does, for safety reasons. I almost wrecked (Ryan) Blaney in turn two and he didn’t have a window net, so what happens if I break him and we head into him. Then we have a problem. It’s just frustrating because we just don’t have consistency in our draft.”

Should NASCAR have let him come to the pit lane and just pop the window up to let him regain his position on the track? ‘Then you change the rules. You cannot change the rules. Why? Because you feel sorry for the man? I’ve had race-winning cars for the past four weeks and things have happened to me. That doesn’t mean they’re going to say, ‘Well, you should have won the race, so we’ll give you the win.’ It does not matter. You can’t make up rules.”

Do you think Ryan Blaney should have come to the pits? “That’s the rule, it’s a rule. This is not a judgment from Denny Hamlin. This is a game by the rules.”

Can you talk about the call to take just two tires at the final pit stop? “I mean it was the best shot we had to win. Honestly they gave me a good track position and that’s all I could ask for. We had a fast race car. We really lost the handle there a bit during the last one couple of runs. We really started to loosen up, but I got the chance I wanted and couldn’t ask for much more than that.”

How frustrating is this result given the conditions at the end of this race? “Again, we’re just asking to play by the rules. If you tell us what the rules are, we’re going to play to it. You can’t just change them, I mean you can if you own the series, but it’s not fair to the other competitors if you make a mistake and he (Ryan Blaney) clearly made a mistake and he should have won the race but if you make a mistake you have to follow the rules And if its a rule “If you break it, you have to stick to it and the results are the results. There are a lot of races that have been lost because someone makes a mistake. Just because he should have won morally doesn’t mean you should win.”

Austin Cindric – No. 2 Keystone Light Ford – finished third:

Daniel Suarez – Chevrolet Highway Insurance No. 99 – Finished Fifth: “I felt like we were pretty fast. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing – the 99 team, the 1 team, everyone has done a very, very good job building fast race cars. I feel like we were probably one of the best cars out there at one point. Until the end, we probably weren’t. We were also at a disadvantage on tires. It was a huge fight. We started in the back, fought all the way to the top-10 or something like that and then the tires were switched. I’m just happy with the result. Hopefully we can close the deal in the Coca-Cola 600 next week.”

Chris Buescher – No. 17 Fastenal Ford – Finished Eighth:

Christopher Bell – No. 20 DEWALT Toyota – finished tenth:

Kurt Busch – No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota – Finished 13th:

Kyle Busch – No. 18 M&M’s Crunchy Cookie Toyota – Finished 21st:

How do you describe what happened in the incident that ended your race? “I just had a flat tire of four, right rear has a flat. Too bad for our guys at Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota, M&M’s. We had a really fast race car, a great race car and of course had led all the laps up to that point. Disappointing not to be able to race for a million dollars.”

Did you see Ross Chastain come after you before the accident? “New.”

How did you feel in the car before the accident? “Just as I got to the exit of four, the right back went down. I tried to limp it around and get it to the bottom of the track. Just got run over. I don’t know, just a rough day for our M&M’s Camry, it was super fast. Just really proud of the guys, everything we had and we did well. I just can’t go racing for a million dollars right now. Pretty disappointed.”

Did you have any indication before the tire broke? “New.”

Ross Chastain – No. 1 Global Express Chevrolet – Finished 22nd:

You hit Kyle Busch at about 185 MPH. How did that feel? “It felt like the driver of the No. 1 car chose the wrong lane to get in. Our Worldwide Express Chevy was tight all night and we were just getting into the tightness. I saw Kyle (Busch) having a problem with a busted tire. I guess left and I should have guessed right. It was a big hit for Kyle. It was a tough break, but we had a fast car.”

Chase Eliott – No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet – 23rd Complete:

(Involved in wreck with Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain) What did you feel, see or think about that? “I saw that the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) had a problem; and then I saw the number 1 (Ross Chastain) hit him really hard. I just didn’t give him enough space. I knew he would go straight; I just didn’t know he would go so far to the right so fast. I just misjudged it a bit. It was really avoidable on my part. I was just a little confused and didn’t get the hole fast enough.

“I hate it. I thought our No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy was surprisingly good for me and Texas (Motor Speedway), so I was pretty excited about it; I was looking forward to getting started and seeing what we had here towards the end. I thought we were in a really good place with strategy and stuff like that. We’ll try again next week.”

Kyle Larson – No. 5 hendrickcars.com Chevrolet – Finished 24th:

“I just let a right front tire go. I moved up, but I don’t really think that made the (tyre) wear any worse. It just let go in the middle and left. I hate that it happened. I feel like our car was good enough depending on restarts because you can’t pass at all, especially the leader anyway.