Here’s what the drivers had to say after Sunday’s Cup race at Pocono Raceway:
Denny Hamlin – Winner: “I pushed him into the first turn. I don’t know if he didn’t have clean tires and then he washed the track. We got side by side and he decided not to lift. It’s just one of those things when you’re on the outside of the aerodynamic position, I didn’t touch him. The car just made the decision not to lift. … I thought we had the best honestly. We had the best car. The strategy went run well. (Crew chief Chris Gabehart) just drove me further to the front.
Tyler Reddick — Finished 2nd: “The last few laps, we didn’t get a lot of push, we didn’t really get a good push on any of the restarts and that left us in a vulnerable spot. We did everything we could.”
Martin Truex Jr. – Finished 3rd: “We fought for track position all day, and finally got it, and then pulled away from the field until strategy got us back a few places. All in all, really good speed, good day. I just couldn’t get the push from the front row to get the lead back.”
Truex Jr. needed a bigger push from the inside row
Martin Truex Jr. admits his second-place finish at Pocono came down to lane choice and not getting the right push from the inside lane on the final restart.
Kevin Harvick — Finished 4th: “I would have preferred to win, but I think we just have to stay in the mix, keep doing what we’re doing and you never know how these things are going to go. We needed the front in the clean air and we never got it. Our car just struggled in traffic on that first lap of the restarts to get going on the front tires, but it was a strange race. I never thought this strategy would play out the way it did, run where we were and then run it around. You just have to keep going each round. They know what they’re doing up there and they let it play out.”
Harvick begins stringing performances together
After his second straight top-five finish, Kevin Harvick says the No. 4 car wasn’t good in traffic on restarts to eliminate the leaders.
Ty Gibbs — Finished 5th: “It’s great to come home in the top five. Thanks to everyone who supports me at (Joe Gibbs Racing) and Toyota, TRD. what a good day We were in front all day. Solid day with good track position. It was nice to stay out of the mess back there. We just have to keep fighting.”
Ricky Stenhouse — Finished 7th: “It was an up and down day for the #47 Blue Buffalo Chevy team. We didn’t have track position early on. We got him there in the middle stages of the race, but it wasn’t good enough to keep him. The guys made some really good adjustments and we got better. The last stage, when we ran a lot, we were doing good lap times when we got clean air. We took two tires and that gave us a really good track position for when the cautions came out. It was all about timing those resets there at the end. We botched every restart there in the beginning, and then nailed them all there at the end. All in all, it was a very strong day for our team.”
Harrison Burton – Finished 8th: “It was a good finish for us. We were stuck in traffic all day and that makes it difficult, and we struggled to handle, but we made some changes at the end and that got the car pretty good right before the long green flag cycle and I was able to run a lot. A lot of those guys were able to get into traffic and we were able to get clean air and get faster lap times. We got in front of a lot of those guys, so that helped us a lot. The strategy at Pocono is always fun, so it’s fun to know what’s going on and know you have to go run fast laps because the guys behind you are trying to do the same thing. It worked as far as we got in front of them. The guys did a good job in the pits to do that and on the last few restarts I tried to be aggressive and keep moving forward and got a few more places. It was a decent day for us.”
Erik Jones – Finished 9th: “It was a good day for the #43 USAF Chevy. I thought we had good speed. We used a lot of strategy and some opportunities to get on top at the end. We had a few restarts and we’re glad it went well. It was a good day and I hope to keep improving.”
Kyle Larson – Finished 21st: “(Denny Hamlin and I are) friends. Yeah, that makes things awkward and awkward, no matter what, he’s always right. All my friends know he’s always right. So, I’m sure he was right there, too. It is what it is. I’m not going to let it get to the track, but I’m angry. I feel like I should be angry.”
Larson after Pocono: ‘Denny’s always right’
A visibly frustrated Kyle Larson says Denny Hamlin has cost him “a lot of good finishes” throughout his career, even though he never had to apologize to him for anything he’s done on the track.
Noah Gragson — Finished 22nd: “Decent day for our #42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevy team. I just lost too much on pit road and he didn’t make good adjustments at the end. It’s a step in the right direction, but we just have to be better. Disappointing, but we don’t have any marks on the car. We just have to be better.”
Ryan Blaney – Finished 30th: “It stinks. We took the lead and had it for two laps and then we had our problem. We’ll have to figure out what it was, but overall I’m proud of the effort. We ran a pretty good car and we improved it all day. It’s just one of those things that happens every once in a while. I basically lost 100 horsepower. We’ll have to look at it, but it got pretty flat pretty quickly “.
Austin Dillon — Finished 34th: “I heard (Dale Earnhardt Jr.)’s replay and he said I went down a little bit. It felt like I was holding mine. He was on my back left going in there, I knew we were three wide. I think I have the right to at least keep my lane. I mean, I have to turn at some point to go down. Brad (Keselowski) is on my outside, maybe in the middle lane. Tyler took him in there. Obviously, I feel like the he drove deep enough to where he had to go up the lane to me. We can look at SMT and see the good little moves we make, but I felt it wasn’t the time to do that.”
Dillon takes a hard lick, helmet whips Reddick
Austin Dillon slides hard into the SAFER barrier in Turn 1, throws his helmet toward Tyler Reddick with caution and says he’s going to have to start “wrecking people” after he’s released from the infield.
Joey Logano – Finished 35th: “We’ve been fighting these cars for two years with four flat tires when a car goes out, and you have that long, horrible ride again. It’s rough. Your head bounces around in there. It’s stupid. It’s really stupid that we can’t put four tires on a truck. I saw a bunch of them today. I did something for Verizon and I saw at least 25 trucks. If we can put four tires on one of them with a jack and a impact that can only change the tires and let us go back, instead of dragging the car two miles down the track, is stupid.”
Daniel Suárez — Finished 36th: “Definitely frustrated because I feel like we’re better than that. I’m also frustrated because I feel like the guys are tearing each other down, and I’m the one who ended up out of the race without being in their mess. But what are you going to do: sometimes you’re on the good end and sometimes you’re on the bad end. Unfortunately today, I was on the short end.”
