What Drivers Said After Martinsville Cup win by Chase Elliott, his first victory of the season
Chase Elliott — winner: “It was definitely a team effort, man. How about that? That was awesome. We’ve never had a win this early in the season. Just a really great team effort, man. So proud of Alan and the whole team. They did a great job. We took a gamble. We were going to two-stop that last stage. I honestly think it was going to work out good for us either way. Just so proud of them. Man, they put up with a lot (smiling). They got to put up with me all the time. I just appreciate them for sticking with me. Sure is a lot of fun when days like this work out. Definitely really appreciate it. Thanks to everybody, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet, Boss. I told you I thought we were okay. I didn’t know if we were this good or not. Thanks for the opportunity, as always. Wish you were here. We’ll see you next time. Say hi to my mom at home. Hope she’s having a good evening. Yeah, I mean, this whole deal is really weird the way it all works. I told them there about, I don’t know, half, three-quarters of the way through, I really don’t dislike my balance, I just wish I could control my runs a little better. Fortunately we got to lead on that last one. Fell into a really good pace. Yeah, just had enough. I think we probably needed a little bit to be just the absolute best outright. We were really close. Was able to manage and save enough to get through traffic there at the end. Yeah, man, it’s really cool when this stuff works out. To win these races is so tough. Just really grateful for the opportunity, as always. I never take it for granted. Trust me, this is a dream come true for me. Thanks everybody for coming out today. Appreciate y’all. Y’all are amazing. Thanks for the support. Hope it was a good show for you.”
Denny Hamlin — second: “(Elliott) did a good job to control the pace there. Just really came from that bad restart I had beside the one. Not much really I could have done there. Felt like we gave it our all. I thought I had a loose wheel. We’ll check it out. Just felt similar to Darlington in the back. We’ll check it out here. Just thought the wheel was loose on the last run. Either way, these are just some of the races that get away from you in your career. This one is certainly one of them.”
Joey Logano — third: “Solid rebound for everybody. A track we expect to do well here. Glad to see that. Weekends like last weekend you start to question everything. Nice to have a good rebound, solid car. Our car honestly, if we were able to get to the lead, I don’t know if the 9 was any better than us. He just got the clean air at the right time. If we were able to do that, we could have been in that position as well. Proud of the team. Good stage points, which we needed in both stages, and a solid third place. Something nice to head into Easter with. More short tracks, please (smiling). Definitely our strength as a team. Blaney was strong today. Austin as well. 21 ran well even. Yeah, I mean, I feel like we definitely got our heads a little bit more wrapped around these type of racetracks. That’s when you got to capitalize. You have to come out here and run top five when you have those tracks on the schedule. Got to keep working on the other ones. Not where we need to be yet. That definitely felt nicer than last week.”
Hamlin, Blaney reflect on hit at Martinsville
Multiple drivers share their thoughts on their performances during the Martinsville Speedway race, including Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney who reflect on a dramatic hit that proved costly for both racers.
Ty Gibbs — fourth: “Really good day for our 54 group. Had a lot of fun today. Our Toyota Camry was fast. I need to do a little bit better of a job. Maybe next time I come back, I’ll be even better than this. Had a lot of fun today. Thank you to my team. My pit crew killed it. It was a blast. Good overall day for us. We’ll keep going forward. I feel like we’re really strong. I keep capitalizing on it, remind me to keep doing my job. Yeah, just had a lot of fun today. We’ll keep going. So it’s been a lot of fun. I’ll keep working hard, keep capitalizing on it.”
William Byron — fifth: “Yeah, it was good. Just missing a little bit in the one part of the corner. Just trying to sort of get the entry a little bit better. Yeah, I thought we were good all day. We needed some track position. We had one hiccup there on pit road. Felt like our Chevy was good. Was really proud of that last run. We kind of came from ninth to fifth. Got to keep inching up on it. Congrats to Chase, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, Alan. They did a great job today. They’re always fast here. Always trying to compare notes and chase them, especially on practice days. Keep working on it and get better for the fall.”
Ryan Blaney — sixth: “At least we were able to still run sixth at least. Overall a really good day. I thought we got a little better all day. By the last run or so, I thought I was a top-three car for sure. What happened on the restart kind of put us back. Proud of everybody for recovering. Probably one of the better spring races we’ve had in a couple years. Really proud of that effort. Really good day on pit road. Those guys did a great job of staying in it, doing a really good job. Yeah, good run today. Wish it could have been a little bit better. Looking forward to Bristol.”
Christopher Bell — seventh: “I was super happy with the adjustments on our Camry. We got more competitive throughout the race – the beginning part of the race was a really big struggle. Overall, I’m happy. We ran seventh. I would obviously love more, but it was a competitive Martinsville race for us. When we were at our best, I felt like we were in the top-five for sure. We just got a little bit worse in the last run, but I did a lot of learning today and will hopefully be better next time.”
Shane van Gisbergen — 11th: “Ran in the top 10 all day but lacked overall grip and wasn’t able to hold position on the restarts. The 97 team brought a fast Chevrolet, just wish we could’ve gotten a top 10 result. Collected some stage points and had a lot of fun! Great progress heading into the off weekend.”
Ross Chastain — 16th: ““It was hard to pass today so track position was extremely important, obviously. We made a couple of calls to gain track position in our Chevrolet, which helped. There were a few different strategies in play today but overall, I feel like our car got better it was just so hard to pass. I’m looking forward to the off weekend and getting back in the car at Bristol.”
Michael McDowell — 18th: “It was just an average day for this No. 71 Chevrolet team. We had good execution, but we just didn’t have enough speed. I just felt like we ran 20th all day long. We were 28th in practice, qualified 20th and finished 18th. We just didn’t have it this weekend, speed-wise. I felt like we executed well and did everything we needed to on pit road, but it just didn’t work out. We’ll regroup over the off weekend and get ready for Bristol in a few weeks.”
Kyle Busch — 24th: “This wasn’t the weekend for the No. 8 Chevrolet here at Martinsville Speedway. From practice to qualifying to the race this afternoon we battled a loose car. The team never quit and now we’ll take what we’ve learned through the initial weeks of the season back to Welcome, N.C., regroup and look to rebound after the week off.”
Austin Dillon — 25th: “We had a really fast Chevrolet by the end of the race, so it’s unfortunate that our day played out the way it did. It’s taken us a lot of laps to get our car dialed in here, and we’re not sure if that’s because of the way the rubber lays down or what, but we will reset and figure it out. We opted to stay out instead of pit during a caution in Stage 1 and all of the cars behind us pitted, which ultimately caused us to lose track position and put us behind the rest of the race. This team is gritty and we won’t give up.”
Austin Hill — 33rd: “Overall not a great day for our team. Going out first in qualifying hurt us with our starting position and when you start deep in the field here at Martinsville, it’s a battle to not go down a lap early. Our Chevrolet initially fired off on the loose side and we made changes to tighten the car up. After the second stop, the balance swung the other way with being too tight and we couldn’t get it back to a neutral spot. Stage 3 was just eventful with a loose wheel under our green flag stop and then being involved in an accident. Hate it for our team, everyone at RCR, and our partners but we’ll work hard to be better next time.”
Bubba Wallace — 36th: “Yeah, I misjudged (the contact with Carson Hocevar). I didn’t appreciate the line. I misjudged the center of the corner. I didn’t mean to turn him. What a frustrating day, man. So much expectation coming here. Favorite track. Just wasn’t the day we wanted. We really have to figure out what it is. We can win Saturday in practice, just don’t show up on Sunday. I hate it for our team. Just frustration. Take a week off and reset and go on to Bristol.”
