Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday’s Cup race at Dover Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin — Winner: “Winning here in Dover is super special to me. This is a place I’ve not been very good at the first half of my career. Having a back-to-back here over the last few years is amazing. (On how he improved at Dover) I just studied some of the greats here. I was very fortunate to have Martin Truex as a teammate. Jimmie Johnson, watching him win 10 times here. You learn from the greats and you change your game to match it, you have success like this.”
Denny Hamlin overcame a rain delay and two overtime restarts to win his fourth race of the season.
Chase Briscoe — Finished 2nd: “Yeah, honestly, I thought I was going to win the race. I was able to stay just beside (Hamlin) into (turn) one. I thought we were going to have a good shot coming into (turns) one and two. I didn’t think he was going to be able to do that. I almost cleared him off of (turn) two. I thought I timed it right, so I was going to clear him going into (turn) three, just because I had the lane you typically want to be in. He was able to hang right there – another two or three inches and I thought I was going to win the race. He did a great job, obviously there is a reason that guy has won nearly 60-something Cup races. Glad that we were able to have a good finish. Obviously would have loved to win the race but we had a fifth-to-10th place car and we ended up second, so a lot to be proud of with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota. I’m looking forward to going home next week.”
Alex Bowman — Finished 3rd: “I feel like we were better than where we ended up, but with a poor day at Sonoma (Raceway), I had to start deep in the field. I couldn’t get clean air, and then we got shuffled around a little bit on some of the short runs. But overall, we had a really good No. 48 Ally Chevrolet all day. Proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. I’ve been a little bit sick and my cool shirt decided it wanted a Sunday off, so I’m really hot and really tire, but certainly, it was a really good day for our team.”
Kyle Larson — Finished 4th: “We had a good No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet today. It was just tough starting in the back, and we just kind of had to work slowly at it all day long. On the long runs here, you just have to be really patient, and that’s how we were today. It’s good to get a top-five finish and get back on the horse there. Hopefully we can string together some good runs now.”
Ty Gibbs — Finished 5th: “I’m glad we got to go back racing here in Dover. Great finish for us. Good day – I wish we could have had a little more track position. It was so hard to pass there. Thank you to Monster Energy, SAIA, Toyota – everyone that helps me out.”
Ryan Blaney — Finished 8th: “It was a fun day. I thought on long runs we were really good. I would have personally liked to have seen it go to the end before the rain caution came out because we had a really good long run car and I thought I might have been able to get up to fifth. We came in and got two tires, and I didn’t pick a good lane on the restart and gave a lot of track position away, but, overall, it was a good day from where we started.”
Chris Buescher — Finished 9th: “We got a decent finish out here today with this No. 17 Trimble Mustang and I’m proud of everyone for that. We stayed with it all the way until the end. We were really great at the end of the day, and we definitely have a lot to look at and try to get better for next time here.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 11th: “Strong start to the race for our Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen team today at Dover Motor Speedway. We just needed more at the end of the race. We were pretty neutral to start. By Stage 2, it was easy for the right rear to push through the right front when rubber built. Our balance switched to wrecking loose and our Chevy wasn’t in the track. It was way different from the start of the race. We salvaged what we could. We’ll regroup and continue to push for a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 15th: “We probably should have run about 20th all day so pretty decent finish at Dover Motor Speedway in the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet considering that. We started 23rd and ran right around there until crew chief Richard Boswell made a call mid race to stay out during a pit stop cycle to earn us some track position. It’s amazing how much better our Chevy’s handling was in clean air. After the rain delay, we decided to stay out again and took a gamble that we would be able to hang onto the top-10 and maybe even leave with a top-five finish. We just didn’t have enough at the end on old tires and ended up 15th. We have to get more out of our race cars. We all want more. We’ll keep at it.”
Austin Cindric — Finished 16th: “With where we had to start (26th), I’m definitely proud of the effort from everybody here on this No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang. We kind of just clawed our way up and we had one restart where the field got split up under green flag cycles and I got parked and pretty much lost all of the progress I had made throughout the entirety of the day. We clawed back a few there on those late restarts, but, overall, I’m happy to finish one of these a little better than we have the last few weeks, but we definitely want more.”
Christopher Bell — Finished 18th: “It is refreshing to have speed again in our Rheem Camry. We haven’t had pace, but today we were able to lead laps and get stage points and we won a stage. That is something that I’m super excited about, even though I made mistakes and I spun out when I probably shouldn’t have spun out. We were going for the win, and if we keep bringing speed like that to the race track, then we are going to be just fine. It has been a long time coming. I haven’t scored stage points in a long time, let alone won a stage.”
Ryan Preece — Finished 19th: “We had a solid No. 60 Castrol Ford today, but unfortunately the end didn’t really reflect the speed we had in the car all day. I’m proud of my guys for continuing to put in the work to make us better, and next weekend should be fun in Indianapolis.”
Ty Dillon — Finished 20th: “It feels good. You know, I have been the underdog for a long time now, just battling my way to try to get opportunity. Eventually you get comfortable in fighting from behind and people underestimating you. It’s hard to say that we lucked into it this far in, and I am proud of the way we have run. We haven’t been a dominating car, but we have been a pain to everyone around us. That is all we can do — put pressure on them and execute at the right time and that is what we have done. I am so grateful to Matt Kaulig and everyone at Kaulig Racing — Chris Rice, Ty Norris, my sponsors Sea Best and Grizzly Nicotine Pouches. They are the ones that allow us to do this and allow us to have fun. I don’t take it for granted. I have been out of this sport and got good perspective and have so much gratitude just to get to race these cars. When things are coming together in a season like this, it’s not everything we want, it hasn’t been everything, but we are having fun. And when you can leave the racetrack smiling, you are already winning.”
Ty Dillon, the lowest seed in the 32-driver field, continued his Cinderella run Sunday at Dover.
Cole Custer — Finished 29th: “Not the day we wanted here at Dover, but I’m proud of the guys for all the work they put in throughout the week. We’ve run well on the intermediate package over the last couple of weeks, and we’re looking forward to the challenge Indianapolis will bring next weekend.”
Noah Gragson — Finished 32nd: “(On what he saw in overtime restart crash) The 20 wrecking. I got on the brakes and then somebody hit me in the back. It was over at that point. I checked up for the wreck and somebody hit me from behind and wrecked us, so that’s what it’s been every race this year. It’s gotten to the point where you just expect it.”
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