Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday’s playoff race at Martinsville Speedway:
Ryan Blaney — Winner: “I’m worn out. It’s hard. The last 70 or so laps I tried to save my rears the best I could because that’s where I started struggling later in the runs. I hated I had to lay the bumper to some guys, but I had to do it. It was nice to pass (Chase Elliott) clean. I laid the bumper to a couple guys that I wish I didn’t have to, but I needed to get going, so it was a long night. I appreciate everybody for getting better through the night. Thank goodness. I think that’s the most tired I’ve been after a race in a long time. … Part of me was nervous because when I got to (Brad Keselowski) earlier, like the run or two before, I just lost so much rear drive and I couldn’t drive under him. I felt like my rears were hanging on a little bit better that last run, and it started to seem like (Kyle Larson) and (Elliott) were starting to struggle on corner exit and that’s where I was able to do it. We definitely got the car better and it allowed me to kind of fade up the track and turn under, where I couldn’t really do it before. Props to (crew chief) Jonathan (Hassler) for tuning her up.”
“Yeah, a lot of momentum. It’s nice to have two Penske cars in. It’s nice to join (Joey Logano) and have a decent shot to bring Roger another title, a third title in a row, so these guys are the best at what they do and it’s been so much fun to get to run with them and share wins and championships. It’s super strong right now in our organization and hopefully it carries over.”
Chase Elliott — Second: “It was a great call. It got us right there in the mix and we had an opportunity. I just made a couple mistakes there past halfway and got some damage on our car. I think that hurt a little bit. Just little things started stacking up. I was pushing really hard trying to get to (Kyle Larson). I just felt like Ryan (Blaney) had been really good. I was scared to give him an opportunity to get to the No. 5 first. I just really wanted to try to get the lead. And then you never know, maybe a caution comes out or something. It just didn’t work out for us. We’ll go to Phoenix (Raceway) and try to put together a good weekend.
Yeah, I don’t know what all was going on there (at the finish), to be honest. All I know is that we came up one spot short and it’s unfortunate.”
Kyle Larson — Third: “I’m proud of the effort from this No. 5 Chevy team. This whole Round of 8 has been a fight, really. From the first stage at Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) on, it’s been a fight. I feel like we made the right pit call to give ourselves the best opportunity. I’m proud of my team, the car, the pit crew, everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. We just didn’t have enough. I actually thought that when Chase (Elliott) got to second, I thought he was going to drive right to me and pass me easily. I was surprised I held on as long as I did, so it gave me hope. But then we just fell off the last 30 laps or so.”
Austin Cindric — Fourth: “We started last. We had to go to the back to start stage three and we had a really fast race car. It was a good strategy call there by (crew chief) Brian (Wilson), putting it in my hands at the end with old tires. Honestly, probably a few more laps we would have had third, so I’m proud of everybody’s effort. The whole team collaboration this weekend and most importantly, getting Ryan in the Championship 4. We’ve got a 50 percent shot of Team Penske to win next week, so that’s awesome. It’s well-deserved by everybody on the team and after my last three weeks this feels nice, but we definitely had to work for it today.”
Thank you to all my friends, family, fans (and even the non fans) for the support of our 11 team during the 2024 season. Still got 1 more shot to hoist the cup next weekend.
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) November 4, 2024
William Byron — Sixth: “Yeah, I’ve never been a part of anything like this, so I don’t really know how to feel. I hate it for everyone involved, but I’m happy for this No. 24 Chevy team. I’m happy for us moving on, and we’ll go on and focus on Phoenix. I’ll think about this one here at Martinsville with my team. We had a lot of adversity through the second half of the race there. Yeah, I mean, we know what the rules are, right? So it is what it is. I wouldn’t say I’m happy, but I’m excited to race for a championship, that’s for sure.”
Austin Dillon — Seventh: We had a fast No. 3 Chevrolet today at Martinsville Speedway. We ran in the top 10 most of the race. Even after a pit road speeding penalty on lap 134, our team stayed determined and we were able to race our way back into the top 10. Our pit crew did a fantastic job with how many times we pitted. I think if we could have gotten a couple of late cautions towards the end, we could have had a shot at another win. I’m very proud of our Richard Childress Racing team for bringing the car they did this weekend and ECR engines for the power. It showed for 500 laps.”
Joey Logano — 10th: “It was a top 10. That’s what it was. The focus has been on Phoenix and hopefully it pays a dividend next weekend where we can unload with a lot of speed and have a race car that can go up there and run up front and win a championship.
Noah Gragson — 11th: “We came up one spot short from a top 10. I really want that, but, overall, a good day for the No. 10 team and Stewart-Haas. (Ryan Preece) and (Chase Briscoe) ran up front for a good majority of the day and for us to come home 11th, we started 25th. We need to get our qualifying a little better, but I think we know what we need to work on. I’m just super proud of the determination and focus out of our group this weekend. We’ve got one more.”
Shane van Gisbergen — 12th: “”That was a long race but really fun! My Chevrolet felt really good when we were in clean air, and we were even ripping some pretty good lap times. Super stoked with the 12th-place finish. Such a good way to finish with my Kaulig Racing team.”
Daniel Hemric — 13th: “Really fast No. 31 Chevrolet all weekend. We kept our track position and made some gains during the first stage. Getting spun by the 77 set us back a bit. Fortunately, a timely caution and some solid adjustments helped get us some track position back, and we were able to get a top-20 finish out of it.”
Ryan Preece — 14th: “We had a really solid car. Felt like a top-five, top-10 car, but once we lost track position, we just fought the entire time to get it back. We just got stuck on the wrong end of the stick with the strategy. It seemed like the cautions came out at unnecessary times for us and put us in position to have to make a decision, and I think when that caution came out and put us fourth, it actually put us in a bad spot and, ultimately, we ended up 14th. Still a good fight. I’m proud of Chad (Johnston, crew chief) and proud of everybody.”
Chase Briscoe — 15th: “Our car started pretty good and we just continued on and it just got worse as the day went on. We never really made it better. It’s frustrating for sure. I felt like we had a car definitely capable of running in the top five and we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We’ve got to get better.”
Christopher Bell — 22nd: “It was Martinsville, and it was a Round of 8 cutoff race. Unfortunately, I was on the bad side of it. Made a lot of mistakes, ran a sloppy race. It is a shame that it comes down to a ball and strike call like that. You can look at both sides of the fence. The Chevy organization had a lot of blocking going on so that (William Bryon) didn’t lose positions. I slid into the wall and kept my foot into it. I guess that is a losing move.
“I just got loose. I was trying to get by (Bubba Wallace) and whenever I did, I was kind of pinned in between (Noah Gragson) and (Wallace) and slid into the wall. Whenever I slid into the wall, I knew that I had to have that position and just tried to get to the line. I didn’t intentionally floor it and go into the fence; I slipped into the wall and that’s all she wrote.”
Kyle Busch — 28th: “We had a decent Chevrolet at Martinsville Speedway, but a bad break early in the race put us behind for most of the day. We made a green flag stop and then a few laps later the caution came out, putting us a couple of laps down. We took the wave around at the Stage 1 caution and then got the free pass back onto the lead lap thanks to another caution a few laps into Stage 2. Crew Chief Randall Burnett and all the guys on the No. 8 team kept making adjustments throughout the race and we were slowly able to work our way back into contention. With 100 laps to go, we lined up 10th for a restart but had an issue with the right-front tire and had to pit again. It’s frustrating for sure.”
