Quotes of the Day
“We were really loose. We got our car too tight at one point, too. We fought back and forth on the balance, and that was the biggest thing we struggled with.”
ARIC ALMIROLA
Richard Petty Motorsports
No. 43 Ford
Finished 16th
“This wasn’t the result the Caterpillar Chevrolet team was expecting this weekend. We had a successful test session on Thursday, and made strong gains in practice on Saturday. I felt good about our chances this morning, but the handling got away from us.”
JEFF BURTON
Richard Childress Racing
No. 31 Chevrolet
Finished 26th
“We just never got up to speed. The car was loose, then it was snug, and no matter what adjustments were made we never could find the right balance for this track. We needed one more caution at the end to get back on the lead lap, which would have given us a good opportunity to pick up additional positions. It wasn’t our day.”
KURT BUSCH
Furniture Row Racing
No. 78 Chevy
Finished 20th
“I just hate it for my team. We had by far the best car in practice. I don’t know where that went.”
KYLE BUSCH
Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 18 Toyota
Finished fourth
“Our car was fast, but we had a few issues with the handling during the race. The No. 29 team kept at it all day, making changes that allowed us to leave here with a good finish.”
KEVIN HARVICK
Richard Childress Racing
No. 29 Chevy
Finished ninth
“We ran a little bit better than where we finished, but just needed a little track position at the end. Couldn’t really get going. The car was pretty good, not exceptional, but we got a pretty good little start to the season. We are working on it trying to improve, and we are running up front. So, real happy with that, real happy with our performance.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR.
Hendrick Motorsports
No. 88 Chevy
Finished seventh
“At the end, I just wish we had a little bit more to go up there and race with those guys. But it was a solid performance, all in all.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON
Hendrick Motorsports
No. 48 Chevy
Finished sixth
“I caught (winner Matt Kenseth), I just couldn’t pass him. We definitely had the best car today, our Farmers Insurance Chevrolet.”
KASEY KAHNE
Hendrick Motorsports
No. 5 Chevy
Finished second
“I’m pretty proud to be driving this car. I felt a lot of pressure that I put on myself to come in here (at Gibbs) and perform.”
MATT KENSETH
Joe Gibbs Racing
No. 20 Toyota
Finished first
“We wanted better, but I think if I would have done a better job on my restarts, then we would’ve been better. We were sliding all over the place out there. I am sure we wore out some steering boxes, and that was a good race. That was as hard as we could drive.”
CARL EDWARDS
Roush Fenway Racing
No. 99 Ford
Finished fifth
“I thought it was a faster pace than what I’ve ever had, but then again, I’ve always had terrible cars here. ... This is by far the best car I’ve ever had here, and that thing would definitely rocket through the corners.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI
Penske Racing
No. 2 Ford
Finished third
“I screwed up and sped down pit road on the first stop. I went down a lap and tried the wave around, but never caught our break to go. I felt like we had a top-five car, but just made a mistake.”
JOEY LOGANO
Penske Racing
No. 22 Ford
Finished 12th
“It was a lot of fun to drive out there today. We were able to run the top line in Turns 1 and 2 at the end, but we were tight at the bottom in Turns 3 and 4, which cost us a little bit of time.”
PAUL MENARD
Richard Childress Racing
No. 27 Chevy
Finished 10th
“It’s entirely on me. But, yeah, the restart, if I wanted to point fingers, it was the restart. But it was still my fault.”
RYAN NEWMAN
Stewart-Haas Racing
No. 39 Chevy
Finished 38th after engine problems late
“We knew we were going to have tough days, but this is not the kind of tough day we thought about. We need to
figure out how and why it (the car) changes so much from practice to the race and really learn this new car. I was extremely loose the whole time. We made
it a little bit better in the
middle of the race, to the
point where it would go
for half the run, but by the
end of every run I would find myself very, very loose again.”
DANICA PATRICK
Stewart-Haas Racing
No. 10 Chevy
Finished 33rd
“We were running in the top 10, no problem, but then we were way too tight for some reason. Every pit stop we made, we got tighter and tighter. I couldn’t go on a restart. I had lap cars passing me left and right, and I couldn’t get out of the way quick enough.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR.
Roush Fenway Racing
No. 17 Ford
Finished 18th
“Steve Addington and the crew did a really good job all race long because there wasn’t one routine pit stop the whole day. Everybody had to do their part today to salvage what we got out of it.”
TONY STEWART
Stewart-Haas Racing
No. 14 Chevy
Finished 11th
