Christopher Bell — Winner: “I’ll tell you what, that right there is what you dream of, to be able to restart on the first or second row in a green-white-checkered on a speedway. You never know how those things are going to play out, but I’ll be the first to tell you, I love superspeedway. This style of racing has just always been a little bit of a struggle for me, and throughout the beginning of the day, we obviously were just stuck way in the back. (Crew chief) Adam (Stevens) and these boys back here, they did an amazing job getting this thing fixed up to where I could just hold my foot down. That’s what it’s all about. You have to be able to stay in the throttle, and that last half of the race we were at our best.”
Carson Hocevar — Second: “Apologies to (Kyle) Larson and HMS and Mr. H and everyone. They helped us out a lot, I didn’t realize we weren’t racing back to the line. The last two nights were kind of that way, and I hit the 20 to get him out of the way and fill the middle. Little bit longer, maybe we win the race. I normally ride in the back and run last and try to get a decent finish. For how bad we were at Daytona, that was no riding. There’s some stuff I’ve got to learn and clean up a little bit, but I feel like we’ve put ourselves in the perfect opportunity to try to win a race. I’ve never had that opportunity before. Especially on a superspeedway. Just big thanks to everyone at Spire Motorsports. They deserve all the praise. I just get to hold the wheel and run wide open and try to put myself in a decent spot. Unfortunately it was just one spot short.”
Kyle Larson — Third: “(Cindric) got there quicker than I thought he would. I’m sure that was my fault. The (last) restart, I haven’t seen it, obviously (Bell) got to my right side. I don’t know what I did wrong or right. I thought maybe (Bell) would pick me up. He was going to push me and get clear into (Turn) 1 anyway. I think it kind of worked out OK. And just didn’t get the caution to come out late enough until I got the run back to the inside. Came up a little bit short but proud of the effort today. Finally finished at Atlanta and finally got to run up front.”
Ryan Blaney — Fourth: “It was a good comeback. I just fell back from getting spun there, and I was able to pick our way through and ended up scrounging a good finish out of it, so not a bad recovery. I wasn’t slowing. (Carson Hocevar) was drafting to me, and he didn’t lift and just gave me a shot when I’m turning into (Turn 1), and it spun me out. I was just happy I didn’t hook a right back into everybody and was able to stay on the apron. I’m happy with the result after being spun with 20 to go, so a decent comeback. It was a little bit of a struggle getting to the front after I lost some track position in the first and second stage, and then we got spun when I finally got track position by (Hocevar), and we were able to make it back up and run forward, so it was an up and down day, that’s for sure. I’m happy we were able to make a recovery.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — Fifth: “It was an up-and-down day for the No. 47 Chevy team. We were at the back. We were at the front. We got some stage points. All-in-all, our Chevy was really, really good. I could go anywhere I wanted to on the race track. I thought we had a shot at the end. I was bummed.. I wanted the (Kyle Larson) or us to win. I thought my only shot was to push (Christopher Bell) as hard as I could, which I did. And then I was hoping to get to the outside of (Bell) in (turns) 1 and 2, but somebody got me in the fence down the frontstretch, and then we were just trying to hold on for a top-five. Our car was really good and I had a lot of fun today.”
Kyle Busch — Seventh: ““It was a better finish than I thought we were going to get tonight. There were a lot of crashed cars there too, so we kind of cycled our way forward a little bit with some guys that wrecked out. Overall, the No. 8 Chevy had really good speed, I just had a really hard time opening it up. When I got back in traffic, worse than third in line, I just really had to lift out of the throttle a lot and that was holding me up and holding my lane up. Not a lot of guys were willing to deal with that and have the patience for that, so it kind of shucked us back there a few times. But we were able to rally and get what we could for our Chevrolet. Just wish we were closer to the front for the end, but that’s where all the wrecks were happening too, so maybe not.”
Ross Chastain — Eighth: ““To qualify 33rd and drive through the field, I made some bad decisions throughout the race. The car was good enough in traffic to keep cycling forward. Great call by (crew chief) Phil Surgen there at the beginning of the final stage to come and get four tires. I was definitely second-guessing that in the moment, but it was definitely the right call. So I am glad he is the one making the calls on the No. 1 Chevrolet.”
John Hunter Nemechek — 10th: “Solid day. Really proud of Hayden (Reeves, spotter), he worked hard today. Way more intense than Daytona. Hats off to all of the men and women at Legacy Motor Club. Road crew, pit crew. Everyone did a solid job all day. We were able to keep it straight all day and salvaged another top-10. Two really good runs to start the season and looking forward to COTA next week.”
Joey Logano — 12th: “It was just challenging all day. We had a really fast car, and when we were up front we could control it really well. When we had a couple Fords up front it was domination, and then when I got in the back I didn’t handle good enough. It just cost us too much back there and I couldn’t move my way back up. Every time I got a gap it just wasn’t good enough to get back up there handling-wise, so the car was fast but we just needed more steering.”
Michael McDowell — 13th: “That was an eventful day for the No. 71 Chevy team. We had an issue early on with the power steering pump. We actually lost the hose; came in the garage and went down seven laps. We got all of our laps back, nothing short of miraculous, and capitalized there at the end. So thankful to get a good finish, given that it could have been a disaster there. Really proud of Carson (Hocevar). He had a great race. I didn’t see the ending of it, but I know he was up front racing for the win all night long. Really proud of Spire Motorsports for bringing fast Chevy’s. We got some good notes for us for when we come back here. I’m proud of my team and their effort – just grinding through it, getting laps back, fixing a mechanical issue and never giving up. That’s what it’s all about.”
AJ Allmendinger — 14th: “Hard fight all night, just struggled with balance overall. Then when you get back there in traffic, it’s hard to make the right moves. I definitely need to be a little bit better making the right moves. I’m proud of the guys; we made a lot of changes to make the car as good as we could. We salvaged a decent finish there at the end, but we need to be a little bit better overall.”
Josh Berry — 25th: “We had a really fast car. We saw yesterday that all of our cars were fast. We were able to stay aggressive, stay on the offense, stay up front. I feel that I am in a situation now where I can succeed. We tried to make the most of it there, but we obviously didn’t get the finish that we deserved. It was just crazy. Honestly, it was a lot of fun, but it was just crazy. A lot of aggressive moves racing there at the end. (Carson Hocevar) threw (Ross Chastain) out of line and I kind of pushed him through the middle and then we just got squeezed together once into [turn] one and then again off of [turn] two. We all just ran out of room there. It’s just disappointing. I have to go back and look to see if there is something I could have done better. I mean, what’s the use of wrecking for eighth or whatever? I hate that we didn’t get the finish we deserved.”
Austin Cindric — 28th: “It was unfortunate. As a team, as Fords, we had the best cars here this weekend. We put ourselves into position to win the race and got used up and into the fence and didn’t win the race. It’s a shame. Two weeks in a row, I feel like we have had the car to beat and haven’t done it. One way or another it is disappointing.”
Ty Gibbs — 32nd: “I think I just got really squeezed there. I feel like I was in position to run three wide and make up some positions that I lost. I don’t know. I haven’t seen a replay. I feel like I got squeezed there. Before I got wrecked, I felt like our Camry was really good. I felt like I could make really good charges and my balance was good. I felt like we were really fast, and I could charge through the field and make really good passes.”
Daniel Suarez — 33rd: “I just wasn’t good enough today. We just weren’t good enough. We struggled a lot with the balance of the car since the first stage. We worked a lot to try to make it better but never quite the way we normally are here. We have to review everything. I know we brought a little different package than before trying to contemplate the weather, because it’s a quite bit colder, but it just didn’t work out. (Ty Gibbs) was there in the middle, and I didn’t know he was in the middle. That’s on me and my spotter. I think we have to do a better job in those situations. It’s part of it. Overall, we just put ourselves in very bad situations throughout the race. We were not fast enough. The No. 99 Chevy wasn’t handling the way I was hoping it would. Normally our speed is good and our handling is great, and that’s how we’ve been successful here. Today, that just wasn’t the case. We have to go through everything and see what we can do better for next time.”
Noah Gragson — 34th: “I saw (Daniel Suarez) get turned through the trioval and I don’t know if he was coming back up or if I clipped him with the left-rear, but I had a lot of left-rear damage and couldn’t continue.”
Cody Ware — 35th: “I honestly have no idea. I know (Daniel Suarez) was spinning out ahead of us. It felt like we slowed down. I’m not sure if we got hit from behind, but the next thing I know I’m in the outside wall. It’s just another frustrating weekend of superspeedway style racing for the 51 team this week.”
Cole Custer — 36th: “That was really big. I’m just thankful for everybody at our shop. It was a lot of work they had to do this offseason, but they took the time and made all the seat stuff right. Everybody did a great job on our interior stuff, so happy that we’re all OK, but I’m just disappointed. I hate it for everybody at the shop. We struggled a little bit, but to get caught up in a wreck just stinks. I just saw (Daniel Suarez) come up the track and from there I clipped him and went straight head on into the wall. I don’t know what started it. It will be nice to get off the superspeedways for a little bit and get to a road course and then to normal racetracks.”
Corey LaJoie — 38th: “There is nothing to get your heart rate up in a race car more than this. You can talk about restarts at Dover where it is really hectic and stuff is happening at lightning speed, but at Atlanta you have to be so precise and so instinctive with the moves that you make. We were making our way forward. I thought we got our car driving good after the first pit stop and broke into that top 20 bubble where you can get some fresh air, some clean air, on occasion. That is when you can really maneuver. And we got there. We also got there with a pretty decent strategy to get into the top 10. Everyone was sort of gummed up, and I was just in line pushing. I got by (Chase Elliott), and the next thing I know he caught me in the right rear somehow.”
Brad Keselowski — 39th: “I got up to the top 10 and the restart there, it looked like someone got into (Chase Elliott) and put him in the fence. I slowed for that, lost a bunch of spots and then a little later down, it appears he broke a toe link. I saw it initially, I started to go, and it popped right in front of me. I had nowhere to go and broke the radiator. Hate it for everybody on our team. Part of racing. Excited about some of the speed and promise we’ve shown. We’ve just got to get the result. The racing is definitely intense. It is actually phenomenal racing. Just wish we would have gotten up front.”
