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Here's what drivers had to say after Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway:
Chase Elliott – winner: "What a day. … we just had a plan and we did very well. Obviously, it could have gone both ways, but fortunately everyone stayed together, stayed the course and had some help on the last lap with caution. I just enjoy all the support. It's amazing. This is special. It's close to home for me. It sounds a bit like a home race. "
Ryan Preece – finished third: "It was awesome.I was only here another time and it was in Talladega in 2016 in an Xfinity car and I was third with three points to go, I went to get the hole from I was not going to do that today … Nice day for Kroger and JTG (Daugherty Racing) and we hope to continue our momentum. "
Joey Logano – finished fourth: "In the end, the 1 had a big run and I felt compelled to block this. When I blocked, I can not block both and the 9 happened to me. If I chose the bottom and blocked the 9, I had 88 and they would pass next to me as soon as they formed a descent. I was not in a very good place. Once outside, I thought it would be a better place than the bottom, but the teammates did not fight to the end, which is a good thing on their part because it assured them one of their cars. If they were found side by side, I think I could have done something but they were disinterested with each other. I really think that even though it was green to the end, it was exactly the same. There were no tracks built and no momentum went off. This is a difficult point. You think you are in a good position and every time you can take the first line during a last restart, you will do it, especially here in Talladega, but it's hard when the numbers are tight against you. a little. The team, however, did a good job and our Mustang was very fast and that's what we have to be proud of. "
Ryan Newman – finished seventh: "It was crazy. I took the inner line and started there and stayed there. I have never had many places to go, but in any case it was a good race and a good team effort. Proud of all the team to be able to stay together. I think we kept most of the race cars on the race track, which was probably very lucky. We will go to Dover. (Was he surprised by the dominance of Chevrolet?) No, I think it was mostly lucky, honestly. They orchestrated the stand well but I do not think it won them the win. … we put two tires on it at the end and we went there. We just ran out of time. I think we finished sixth, I feel like I'm ahead of one of these guys. It was a good race for the Ford Tassels. We have good points of stage and race. We must win. We must have a top-5. We have top-10s that roll and that's fine. We must continue in the right direction. (Was it from a different Talladega, using conical spacers rather than restrictive plates?) I do not know that it was very different. You had bigger races but the end result was basically the same. We are always at the mercy of the mistakes of others who will always be part of the race here. In the end, I am happy that all race cars have remained on the race track. "
Aric Almirola – finished ninth: "We had a very good Smithfield Ford Mustang. I thought we had a car capable of winning but just a few mistakes on my part and then some things did not succeed. I went back to the first two or three places and I found myself behind once at the end of the race and I fell in the back. We had to fight very hard to get back into the top 10. I'm really proud of all our guys. I thought we had a car capable of winning and the circumstances and some things were not going as planned. The Fords were really fast. The only thing that makes me happy is that we finally stopped the bleeding. We had a really bad two weeks with Bristol and Richmond. We fell from the fifth to the eleventh. We stopped bleeding there, got another top 10 and are back on a fantastic track for us in Dover. "
Kyle Busch – finished 10th: "We restarted outside the first row and I thought the 1 (Kurt Busch) behind me would want to run for the win and not just line up behind Fords and ahead of Chevrolets and he would accompany us a little there. The team order prevailed I guess. This kind of sucked. We did not manage to run. As soon as he escaped from behind me and two others behind me doubled in width, then he sucked me into six rows. I had to try to recover after that and all I could get was what I had. When you were getting older with tires and the cars were starting to get badly handled a bit, it was interesting. We have more support, and yet the cars drive worse, I do not know how it is possible. It was just interesting to see how you could be everywhere and not get stuck. The guys were moving a little, you could do a little movement. There was a section of the race where the lower track did not move and the top track did not move – we were stuck in the same position as for eight laps. That was just about everything I really saw.
regreedy Ragan – finished 23rd: "I was in the center there after we took the white flag. I escaped and destroyed the 24th. I spun him by the nose and he recovered some other cars. This last wreck was my fault. I was pretty stupid to collapse like that when you run 10th or 15th in the last round. We did not have a chance to win. When you have three widths, there is nowhere to go and everyone pushed and shoved and my car just jumped to the side and when I corrected, I caught the left rear of 24 and the spun on my nose. It was unfortunate for our team. Our Mustang was fast all day and had a lot of fun but just made a stupid mistake in the end. (What he thought of the new package) I thought it was quite intense. I felt that there were times when guys were running very hard at the front and sometimes when guys got a single file and went up. You're going to have that in a 500-mile race. You can not run as hard for 500 miles without carnage. This first wreck set the tone and the guys relaxed a little. Cars run at 200 mph. It's exciting and hard to drive and you'll end up making mistakes. "
Kyle Larson – finished 24th: "At first I thought I was going to hit the inside wall and just before I got there, he started to lift himself up. It was probably the longest turnaround I've ever had. I did not know if it would stop one day. I knew I was rocking and I was just hoping I would not get close to the pound. It was a little scary, but I'm fine. Thanks to the fabulous Chip Ganassi Racing store for the construction of safe racing cars. As I said, it was scary, but I'm just grateful that I'm fine.
Chris Buescher – finished 30th: "We have just returned (speaking of his accident at the end of the race). We had a good driving car and we were well placed with a handful of laps to go. We just turned right, were hit and turned right into the fence, destroyed our race and several race cars. This is typical of these race tracks. It gets frustrating every time you come to these places and something like that throughout the race. It's just not very fun.
Matt DiBenedetto – 31st completed: "I'm tired of superspeedway racing for the year. Daytona – good car, good race, crashed. Here, I was fighting really hard at the end. Just was struggling to keep up, but once we got up, the second car could not get past the corner. But I do not know what happened. I saw (Chris) Buescher spinning and we absolutely spoiled him. I had nowhere to go, nothing to do – just speedway races. I'm sure I'd love it if it went in the opposite direction, but it seems like we're collapsing in each of those things. "
reEnny Hamlin – finished 36th: "We had to start at the back and rank among the top five. Then Bubba (Darrell Wallace Jr.) and Ryan (Blaney) got up a bit. Bubba stood on the side in front of me and I met him. That caused a bit of damage, and then we blew up a tire – Jimmie (Johnson) blew up a tire, without caution. Clint (Bowyer) blew a warning, sinking, no warning. Then we blew up a tire and no caution. We did not really have the opportunity to fix the problem the way we wanted it and ended our day. We've been lucky enough to miss a lot of superspeedway wrecks in the last four or five years, but today was the day we were unlucky. That's one of the things I felt I did, but sometimes in NASCAR, when someone else makes a mistake, they're trapped. That was the case today. I imagine that I might have been a little more aware of the guys I was running with. The tracks are big. It's very difficult to defend the lead once you get there. You must be on your guard more than ever with this package just because the races are huge. We have information, we will move to Daytona. "
Kevin Harvick – finished 38th: "I went to the back to start and I thought it would happen several times in the day. I ended up there and it looked pretty tame, so I decided to go back to the front and get there quite easily. I do not know what happened. They all sank and slowed down. Someone knocked on the door and hit the wall. "
Bubba Wallace – finished 39th: "All I was trying to do, it was just to avoid a few wrecks. I do not want to go back to number 12 (Ryan Blaney). This is the last car I want to flounder. Had such a big race on him. And No. 22 (Joey Logano) stopped and he checked a little. I went to the bottom, where I was safe. I do not know if I've gone through his bumper or anything. But it made him rock and pushed me even further than I wanted to go. So, I went back up just to stay out of the apron and he just unloaded. It's just a shame, but I tried not to ruin my friend, Ryan, and it cost our day and a few others. I'm sorry. But we should have been destroyed a few times before. No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) had a big run against us and let me in the middle, so I appreciate that. We were fast. I was just trying to roll without destroying anyone and I destroyed myself.
Michael McDowell – finished 40th: "It looked like the 43 was really aggressive and was making stupid moves at the start of the race. … TIt's early enough in the race to make stupid moves like that … to be so aggressive. Unfortunately for Ford, we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I saw the 43 get on the racetrack and that was just about everything. It's disappointing. We had such good speed and such a great superspeedway program and we were really hopeful for today. Being out so early is very disappointing. It's out of our control though. This is part of the superspeedway races.
We will have more quotes from drivers as soon as they are available. Please check again.
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