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 to have it covered and then the caution came out off of four. I thought it was like any other race. That rule was never kind of relayed to us. I already took my window net down and everything. My left arm is worn out from trying to get that damn thing back up. I got it rigged up enough to where it halfway stayed. I appreciate NASCAR for not making us come down pit road to fix it and letting me get it clipped back again to where we could stay out there. This Mustang was a rocketship. I am really glad we ended up winning that after that last caution. I am so proud of everybody. Tonight will be fun.”

How key was track position? “It was huge. I felt like I was good on restarts, it just felt like the bottom launched better. It was a lot about the push and luckily the last restart Austin (Cindric) gave me a great push, almost too good of a push because he kind of had me jacked sideways. I missed the corner but was able to get up in front of the 11. The push was huge. Control of the lane was big, but a good push definitely helps out.”

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

Denny Hamlin - No. 11 Fedex Toyota - Finished Second:

What did you need on the final restart and what are your thoughts on the window net situation with Ryan Blaney? “I just needed to stay beside the 12 (Ryan Blaney). You know, it’s tough because he deserved to win the race, but if you mess up and you break a rule – not intentionally, but there’s rules and we have rules in place for safety. My crew chief is taking four weeks off because of safety. I nearly crashed him off of turn two when I got squeezed there. If I send him into traffic and he’s got no window net, then what right? Luckily, that didn’t happen and NASCAR avoids another controversy because there wasn’t a wreck in a car with no window net.”

Do you think Ryan Blaney should have been black-flagged? “That’s the rule. I don’t know what we’re talking about here. This is not a judgement call by me. This is just, that’s the rule. It’s unfortunate for him. Very, very unfortunate for him, but it’s the rule. You have to play by the rules.”

How was your race overall tonight? “Our car was good. We lost the handle there with a couple runs to go and just started getting really loose. The further up front we were, the looser we got. We had an opportunity 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 forcing up, up, up and I just couldn’t quite stay there. I think he was going to come up not matter what and we were probably going to crash because he knew we were in a bad spot. I 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 down the frontstretch and unfortunately with that, I couldn’t get up beside him as far as I needed to.”

Was the final caution your only chance to beat Ryan Blaney? “I thought that it was an opportunity, otherwise the 12 was going to win the race and he was probably 100 yards from it, I don’t know. I’m just frustrated that we have a rule. It can’t be a convenience rule. We’re taking four weeks off, my crew chief is, because of safety. I almost wrecked (Ryan) Blaney off turn two and he had no window net up so what happens when I wreck him and we go head-on into him. We’ve got a problem then. It’s just frustrating because we just have no consistency in our officiating.”

Should NASCAR have let him come to pit road and put the window net up and allow him to regain his position on the race track? “Then you’re changing the rules. You can’t change the rules. Why? Because you feel bad for the guy? I’ve had race-winning cars for the past four weeks and I’ve had stuff happen to me. That’s doesn’t mean they’re going to say, ‘Well, you should have won the race so we’ll give you the win.’ It doesn’t matter. You can’t make-up rules.”

Do you feel Ryan Blaney should have had to come to pit road? “That is the rule, it’s a rule. This is not a Denny Hamlin judgment call. This is a play by the rules call.”

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

How frustrating is this result due to the circumstances at the end of this race? “Again, we just ask to play by the rules. If you tell us what the rules are, we’re going to play by them. 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 play by the rules. And if it breaks a rule then you have to abide by it and the results are the results. There are many races that have been lost because someone makes a mistake. Just because morally he should have won doesn’t mean you should win.”

Austin Cindric - No. 2 Keystone Light Ford - Finished Third:

Daniel Suarez - No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet - Finished FIfth: “I felt like we were pretty fast. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing - the 99 team, the 1 team, everyone has been doing a very, very good job building fast racecars. I feel like at one point, we were probably one of the best cars out there. Right down to the very end, we probably were not. We were at a disadvantage on tires, as well. It was a huge fight. We started in the back, fought all the way to the top-10 or something like that and then tires changed. I’m just happy with the result. Hopefully we can close the deal next week in the Coca-Cola 600.”

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 got a flat tire off of four, right-rear is flat. Unfortunate for our guys at Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota, M&M’s. We had a really fast race car, great race car and had led all the laps up to that point obviously. Disappointing to not be able to go out and race for a million bucks.”

Did you see Ross Chastain coming behind you before the accident? “No.”

What were you feeling in the car before the accident? “Just when I got to the exit of four, the right-rear went down. I was trying to limp it around and get it to the bottom of the track. Just got ran over. I don’t know, just tough day for our M&M’s Camry, it was superfast. Just real proud of the guys, everything we had and we were doing it right. Just not able to go out and race for a million bucks right now. Pretty disappointed.”

Did you have any indication before the tire went down? “No.”

Ross Chastain - No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet - Finished 22nd:

You hit Kyle Busch at about 185 MPH. What did that feel like? “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 managing the tightness. I saw Kyle (Busch) have an issue with a tire down. I guessed left and I should have guessed right. It was a big hit into Kyle. It was a tough break, but we had a fast car.”

Chase Eliott - No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet - Finished 23rd:

(Involved in wreck with Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain) What did you feel, see or think about that? “I saw the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) had a problem; and then I saw the No. 1 (Ross Chastain) hit him really hard. I just didn’t give him enough room. I knew he was going to go straight; I just didn’t realize he was going to go that far right that quick. I just kind of misjudged it. It was really avoidable on my end. I just kind of messed up and didn’t get the gap shot quick enough.

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

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

“Just had a right front tire let go. I got moved up, but I don’t really think that made the (tire) wear any worse. It just let go in the center and took off. I hate that it happened. I feel like our car was good enough, depending on restarts since you can’t pass at all, especially the leader anyways.

“We’ll move on and look forward to the Coca-Cola 600, and hopefully put on some good racing there.”