Retzlaff: Didn't Mean to Cost Busch, Chevrolet; Was Trying to Win at Daytona
As Parker Retzlaff, making his second career NASCAR Cup Series start, found himself near the front of the field in the closing laps of Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the positive result was supposed to be one that put the 21-year-old driver on the radar for potential Cup Series opportunities in the future.
Unfortunately, in the days after Retzlaff gave the race-winning shove to Harrison Burton, in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, which secured the win for Burton over Kyle Busch, in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, the young driver's actions in the overtime finish has put him, fairly or unfairly, under the microscope by Chevrolet.
Retzlaff, who runs full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Jordan Anderson Racing, pilots Chevrolet race cars, and his Jordan Anderson Racing team has a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing. In Saturday night's race, Retzlaff was also piloting a Chevrolet Camaro for the part-time Beard Motorsports NASCAR Cup organization, which also has an alliance with RCR.
While being in the mix for the race win in just his second-career start, and ultimately finishing seventh is a positive day on paper, when you add the context of Retzlaff shoving a Ford past a Chevrolet driver, one with who his team has a technical alliance with, for the race win before fading to a seventh-place finish himself, and you start to see how a great night turns really bad in the eyes of a few influential folks within the Chevrolet camp.
On Wednesday, Retzlaff joined SiriusXM NASCAR Radio's On Track for an interview, where he addressed the situation. Retzlaff explained that the finish was not what he was going for and that he would not get into the specifics of the conversations between him and Chevrolet in the days following the race.
🗣️ "It was definitely not what I wanted to happen at the end of that race."@Parker79p provided his perspective on the finish of Saturday night's race and said he was "trying to put (his) name on the map."
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) August 28, 2024
More from the @JARnascar & @BeardOil62 driver → https://t.co/MKhd9eLXG8 pic.twitter.com/yg38XlMn1R
"Yeah, it's definitely -- the end of the race was definitely not what we hoped for," Retzlaff explained. "I'm not going to get into the whatever, I guess the backend stuff, but it was definitely not what I wanted to happen at the end of that race. You know, I didn't want to push a Ford to the win, necessarily, but also FUNKAWAY has supported me for the last two and half years of racing in NASCAR, and it was their first Cup race. I wanted to do everything I could in my power to give them a good result, and kind of try to put my name on the map. The end of the race wasn't how I wanted it to work with pushing a Ford, but I also didn't want to give up everything with how much FUNKAWAY has done for me, and how much I would like to show that back to them."
While there are hard feelings in the Chevrolet camp toward Retzlaff, it should be noted that Busch, as he race leader in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro had lane choice heading into the Overtime finish, where he was ultimately defeated by Burton. Busch chose the inside lane, and after Burton took the outside line, Christopher Bell opted to pull to the inside lane behind Busch.
Retzlaff, to give himself the best shot at winning the race, chose to start behind Burton in the outside lane. It's not a situation where Retzlaff was paired with Busch, and hung him out to dry in the closing laps of the race, or anything like that.
And even after Retzlaff's last-lap push on Burton, Busch had a chance to defend the move on the backstretch but refused to do so. After the race concluded, Busch said he chose to not block Burton's run as he didn't trust Burton could bump draft him straight in the rear-bumper with a flush hit. He opted to stay on the bottom of the track, Burton whizzed by, and the rest is history.
While Burton took the win off of a shove from Retzlaff, Retzlaff contends that he wasn't even trying to push Burton to the race win. When he gave the race-winning shove to Burton down the backstretch, and began to head into Turn 3, Retzlaff says he truly felt like he had a shot to win the race. So, being the race car driver that he is, he took the opportunity. It simply didn't pan out.
"I mean, yeah," Retzlaff explained to Larry McReynolds when asked if he felt he could win the race on the final lap at Daytona. "That's, I don't know where right, wrong, what the right decision truly was. But when I could see that we had a run down the backstretch, and you know, I kind of felt like I had a shot -- like I said, I haven't been here, this is only my second full-time year, I haven't been in the NASCAR scene very long. But I just wanted to put myself on the map and I felt like it was a good opportunity for everyone at FUNKAWAY and me to just show I could compete. So, when I knew my only chance was to get Harrison clear and you know get myself in line and have a chance to win the race, it was really my only shot. Like I said, don't know what the right decision truly was, but it was the decision I felt was the best for me, and everyone that supports me."
Saturday night's run at Daytona was supposed to be the catalyst for the red carpet being rolled out for Retzlaff to make additional NASCAR Cup Series starts, but the native of Rhinelander, WI says he doesn't have anything else planned at the NASCAR Cup Series level just yet. Instead, he wants to reiterate that his goal at Daytona wasn't to take a win away from Chevrolet. His goal was to put in as good of an effort as he could for himself, the No. 62 Beard Motorsports team, and his longtime primary sponsorship partner FUNKAWAY.
"I mean, I don't have anything planned right now. I'm not sure what the future is right now," Retzlaff said. "I'm trying to let everyone know that it's not like there was anything I tried to do that was malicious or harmful. I just -- you know, it was basically my second Cup race ever, my first Cup race at Daytona, and maybe me being young and feeling like I had a shot to win the race kind of made me make the wrong decision. But I don't know. I mean, like I said, it's not what I wanted to happen. Not that I wanted to hurt Kyle [Busch] or you know anyone at Chevy, it was just I was seeing an opportunity where I could put myself on the map, really."
It's a shame, but the situation unfolding in the Chevrolet camp in the aftermath of Daytona International Speedway perfectly showcases the pressure cooker that is the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Format.
As for Retzlaff, he'll compete in Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway. The driver of the No. 31 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet Camaro sits 18th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings, and he has two top-fives and four top-10 finishes through the opening 22 races of the 33-race NASCAR Xfinity schedule.
While Retzlaff has never recorded a top-10 finish at the painfully difficult Darlington Raceway, he did record a 13th-place finish in this event a season ago. The young racer will look to shed some of the scrutiny he's under with a solid performance for Chevrolet this weekend at the 1.366-mile oval in South Carolina.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.