What Drivers Said: Bristol Dirt Race

Sunday's race on dirt at Bristol left a lot of drivers with mixed thoughts on their performance -- those few that had something to say afterward, that is.

Kyle Busch - No. 18 M&M’s Crunchy Cookie Toyota - WINNER:

Did you ever think you would win one like you did tonight?

“Yeah, we backed into that one didn’t we? Sure feels good just to get a win. It’s been a little bit of a long time here, but overall, just a great day. Really appreciate – just proud of the guys. They work hard. We all work hard. We all work way too hard. There’s not a lot of rewards in the sport except winning. You could come home with a second-place day and not get everything that you wanted from the day and from what you put into it. It’s always good when you win. I appreciate M&M’s and this Crunchy Cookie Camry TRD. It was awesome to keep pace with those two. I don’t know why our car would not refire after the rain both times. I was leading on the first big rain delay coming back and I fell to eighth and I was able to drive back through on the long run and get back into position. Then on that one again, same thing and I fell off and couldn’t hang. It got me about 20 laps to get going, but overall, just great to get back in victory lane. Thank you to Rowdy Energy, Toyota, Interstate Batteries, Sport Clips, DeWalt, Breathe Right Nasal Strips, everybody that gets us here.”

What does tonight show what you’ve learned about dirt racing and the new car?

“The biggest thing was just trying to stay in contention. Those restarts were really helpful when you had an outside restart. When we come back, we need to somehow figure out how to do a choose rule because you just get burned on the inside. Overall, I think that was the biggest thing we learned. There were definitely some things we could improve on. I think the 14 (Chase Briscoe) was arguably the best car. He ran down the 8 (Tyler Reddick) there at the end. It’s just so hard to pass once you get into that rhythm. That right rear in that sticky up top. It’s hard to out accelerate that off the corner with momentum or anything from the bottom of the racetrack. I knew if there was going to be a move being made it was going to be contact being made with how aggressive I know Reddick is as well. Again, just kept myself in the game. It reminded me of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin at California. Sometimes the seas part ways and you get one, so I’ll take it.”

Tyler Reddick - No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet - Finished Second:

Tyler, talk me through Turns 3 and 4. What took place there? What are the emotions right now?

“I don't think I did everything right, to be honest with you. (Chase) Briscoe was able to run me back down there. Just looking at it, I should have done a little bit better job of just -- I don't know. I shouldn't have let him get that close. He ran me back down. Worked really hard to do that.

I mean, you're racing on dirt; going for the move on the final corner. It's everything that as a driver you hope to battle for in his situation. Made it really exciting for the fans, so...

It does suck, but we were able to finish second still. I'm being honest. I should have done a better job and pulled away so he wasn't in range to try to make that move. That's how I look at it.”

Joey Logano - No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford - Finished Third: “We’ll take that. We weren’t fast enough obviously to win. We had great execution on restarts and kept ourselves towards the front. Paul made a good call leaving us out. The tire was coming apart there at the end, but we did what we had to do to stay towards the front. Track position was so big. It’s so hard to pass and I felt like if I could just get towards the front, I could try to hold them all off and that’s what we did with our Mustang. We were able to get a top three finish with our Shell/Pennzoil car. It’s OK. We’ll take it. It’s not a win, but we’ve been stringing together some good finishes the last couple of weeks.”

Kyle Larson - No. 5 hendrickcars.com Chevrolet - Finished Fourth: “We had a good No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy all night. We could have been a lot better, but I still feel like we had a car capable of winning if things played out differently. I think the weather kind of had everyone on the fence on what to do. But either way, it was fun. Getting back up there to the top-five was good. I wasn’t sure if we could get it done restarting 20-something to start the final stage. I had a lot of fun and hopefully next year, we can get our car a little better and run towards the front even more.”

Ryan Blaney - No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford - Finished Fifth: “It was a pretty decent race for us. We had to start 25th and come from the back and I thought our car was pretty fast. I kept having to restart on the bottom and kept losing all the spots we’d gain. Our car was good enough there at the end. I thought I was faster than a couple guys ahead of me, but it was a fun race. I thought the track was really good and you could move around. The track was pretty wide, so I’m happy we got the whole race in. That was nice and not a bad day. We’ll just go on.”

Alex Bowman - No. 48 Ally Chevrolet - Finished Sixth:

Ending the night P6… I’ll take it 👊🏼 pic.twitter.com/iOhuWWCJ6R

— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) April 18, 2022

Christopher Bell - No. 20 DEWALT Toyota - Finished Seventh:

Had a lot of fun out there tonight. Thank you @DEWALTtough & @ToyotaRacing for all the support. And hats off to @BMSupdates & @NASCAR for a great event, and to all the fans who stuck it out through the delays. 👊 #DEWALTtough #TeamToyota pic.twitter.com/4QqCOxxP3I

— Christopher Bell (@CBellRacing) April 18, 2022

Chase Elliott - No. 9 Kelly Blue Book Chevrolet - Finished Eighth: “Towards the end of that first stage, I feel like I started finally halfway figuring it out and was able to go forward some. A lot of it is just whether you get the bottom or the top. We don’t have to choose, but it’s really unfair regardless of which end you’re on. Unfortunately, those last couple restarts, we had the top. And all kind of at the same time, I felt like I was able to finally make some pace whenever I did get some track position too. Appreciate everybody on our No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevy this weekend for sticking with it and sticking with me. I’ve struggled. I’m excited to have made some improvements throughout the race.”

Michael McDowell - No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford - Finished Ninth:

P.9 Proud of my @LovesTravelStop team. We had a good car and made the most of it. Stage points and raced in the top 10 with me a non dirt racer. We needed that after the last 3 weeks. We will take the momentum into Talladega.

— Michael McDowell (@Mc_Driver) April 18, 2022

Justin Haley - No. 31 Leaffilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet - Finished 14th: “Not the day we wanted in our No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1, but we got a good top 15 out of it. I led the team in the wrong direction for changes and got myself behind a little. Overall, it was a productive weekend. We got a heat race win and ran up front during stage one. I just backed myself into a corner, but I’m proud of this team’s effort.”

Chase Briscoe - No. 15 highpoint.com Ford - Finished 22nd: Take us through the last lap.

“I was running Tyler down and I just tried throwing a slider. I didn’t expect him to drive in there on me and I was spinning out, I think, either way and I hit him. I feel terrible. I was wanting to race him clean. I wasn’t gonna wreck him for the win. That’s why I tried to slide him and I was trying to leave him enough if I didn’t get there and that was my fault 100 percent. I hate it for Tyler. He’s a good friend of mine and I wanted to see a dirt guy win if it wasn’t me. I’m gonna go down here and apologize and deserve what I get, I guess. That was just racing. I was trying to go for the win and I feel terrible for him.”

You’ve got to make a move to go for the win.

“Yeah, I was just trying to win the race. I ran him down so fast and I knew it was gonna be hard with lap traffic, so I tried throwing a slider and it was the wrong move.”

He said on his radio he would of done the same thing.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go talk to him. If he punches me, he punches me. I get it. I think it was just a racing deal and we’ll see what he says.”

What did Tyler say afterward?

“He got it. Obviously, Tyler and me have raced enough with each other. Both of us know we’re not gonna wreck each other or do something stupid on purpose, and that was just a racing deal. We were both going for a win. Both of us dirt guys. There’s a lot of pride in being the guy that wins the dirt race and it’s unfortunate. I hate that neither of us won, but I think Tyler understood and he was really cool about it and said he would have tried the exact same thing. He said it was his fault for letting me even get there in the first place.”

It seemed you would gain one lap then fall back the next when trying to catch him.

“Yeah, it was definitely back and forth. I was trying stuff kind of behind him so if I did get there I kind of had an idea of what could work. My middle line that I was running down here kind of went away, so I knew the only way I was gonna pass him was to throw a slider, and it’s so hard when it’s that fast around the top. If you would have entered on the fence, I think I maybe would have got there, but when he went in right beside me there was no chance I was gonna make that work and that’s where I started spinning out in the first place.”

Did the last restart not go the way you wanted?

“It could have gone a little bit better, but it was my fault because I spun the tires off of two and let the 18 back by. I had to get by him and then once the top came in I felt like I was ripping it pretty good. The only thing that didn’t go the way I wanted to on the restart was when I hit the 8. I was trying to do what I did to the 99 earlier in the race and Tyler waited so long to go that it just jammed me up and that’s what gave the 18 the opportunity.”

Would you like to see this race come back nexy year?

“I had a blast. The track was way way better. I don’t know how much the rain helped that, but the banking – everything – was awesome. I thought there at the end you couldn’t put on a better race from a dirt track standpoint in these cars, so hopefully that sold more tickets for next year and gives it an opportunity to come back because if we keep doing this at night, I think the opportunity to put on a good race is there.”

Noah Gragson - No. 16 Chevy Truck Month Chevrolet - Finished 27th: “We were trying to keep our No. 16 Chevy Truck Month Camaro ZL1 in one piece – that was my main goal. Unfortunately, I had nowhere to go and got caught up in a wreck. I’m thankful for everyone’s hard work on this Kaulig Racing team. Our first couple of races haven’t gone the way we have wanted them to, but we will keep building. The cars are fast, and I’m starting to learn and get better as we go.”

Austin Dillon - No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet - Finished 31st: “We had such a fast Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet, and I love racing on dirt so I just wish we could have been there for the end. Both of our teams were a little worried about our air boxes because we stayed out at the end of Stage 2 instead of pitting. It didn’t work out for the No. 3 team. Too much dirt got into the engine, and we ended up losing the motor. It’s unfortunate because our No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet was pretty good, and we had a decent restart before it shut down on me. I’m thankful no one ko'd me there. I fell back so fast that I was waiting for somebody to get me big. I tried to hold it straight. I was just completely out of power. I want to congratulate my teammate, Tyler Reddick, on a great race. He drove his butt off, got up there and was good. He didn’t get his win tonight, but if RCR keeps giving us cars like these we both will be in Victory Lane soon.”

Kevin Harvick - No. 4 Busch Latte Ford - Finished 34th: What can you tell us?

“The first thing I can tell you is we did a terrible job prepping the track and full of mud and there was nobody here to pack the track, so we all look like a bunch of bozos coming in to pit because we don’t know how to prep the track. And then we don’t get the lucky dog for whatever reason with two cars on pit road, and then we got run over. I don’t know who ran us over at the end.”

After you got your lap back what did you feel like?

“I had a great car. The racetrack was fine. They just did a terrible job to start with. They’ve done this before, but, obviously, it doesn’t look like it.”

Will you go and talk with them (NASCAR) or say something?

“You can’t talk to them.”

You might be able to.

“Might be, but if I had my choice we wouldn’t be doing this anyway.”

Do you think this is something that’s salvageable?

“What’s the point, really?”

The point is something different and going back to the sport’s grassroots.

“I guess the TV ratings will tell that. If the TV ratings are high, it’ll be great.”

You really liked this track the way it was, right?

“I think Bristol is a great racetrack, but it must not have been what everybody liked.”

Pretty frustrated?

“I think it’s ridiculous that we’re doing what we’re doing anyway.”