What Nascar Cup drivers said after the Cota race by Christopher Bell

This is what drivers have to say after Sunday’s Cup Race at Circuit of the Americas:

Christopher Bell – Winner: “Man, these road racing is just as much fun. Every time Kyle led (Busch), I tried to be just as careful. It is clear that we know what happened last year. I didn’t want it to happen. I wanted to pass him clean. He did just such a good job of running his race, and he could just get well from the corners that I couldn’t get into him. But there I began to look a nose, and he allowed Bobber and me to come out. If I did, I am, like, “Okay, just don’t beat yourself.” It was about the five or six sloppy rounds I’ve ever ran. Likewise stay for these guys here. They were hard about me to win with them. Just very proud for everyone in this Dewalt No. 20 team. We did not count last week. Last week was a highway. We didn’t surround that one. We certainly made this one surround. I’m ready to keep adding. “

Christopher Bell kept William Byron and Tyler Reddick in the last rounds to achieve his 11th career victory.

William Byron – Complete 2nd: “I feel like the battle between him (Bell) and (Kyle) Busch – I just sat there waiting for one of them to bobble or move their tires. Bell came to him and I felt that he had come to him once and was clear, his car was super loose and it gave me a few shots at him. I just could never get next to him. We always chased very well together, so I didn’t want to move him blatantly. At the end, we just slipped a ton there. We got far the weekend and I am very proud of it. We were quite far to start, but made us quite raging and in the position to win. Just suck to be so close. You are on the bumper of the man who comes to the line and sucks it. Many races are ahead and hopefully we can only keep doing this speed. This is a good start to our road course program. Still a little work to do, but thanks to Raptor, Chevrolet, Axalta, Liberty University and all our partners. Has been a good start of the year so far. “

Christopher Bell has become the first manager to win two of the first three races of the cup season since 2018.

Tyler Reddick – 3rd ended: “I thought we were in the first phase in order and were only caught by the 88 (Shane van Gisbergen) and a few others out there. Phase 2 and the first half of Phase 3 Unfortunately there are just us – I wouldn’t say that we really lost the handle, we just lost the rate at our Beast Toyota Camry. I didn’t really know how the rest of the race would unfold to hang at the end and the ride back to the front was good. Just wish the last restart there – I lost a track position just jumped through cars on different tire strategies and just lost land. I think if I could survive, we probably would have had a much better shot there earlier than we did. All things considered, a good recovery for our team and when we get to a place like this, we want to win, but a good day. ‘

Chase Elliott – finished 4th: “It was really just a crazy day. I conveyed, I felt, there in the first corner. I’m curious to see it. I haven’t seen it yet to know if I did something wrong. I am glad to own it if I did. I just felt like it was the first corner of the first round, and it’s just a bummer to find out and then we had damage. Alan (Gustafson, head of crew) and the guys did a good job of fixing it and getting it close. We found out with a restart there and just had to play a big catch up there. Alan made a wonderful call at the end to put ties on it. We rolled really well at the end. Obviously, if you have such a good car, I would have liked to have been in the fight with the guys, but it was a big recovery from where we were at the end of the second phase. “

Kyle Busch – finished 5th: “It was it to push the car. We have a very good no. 8 Rebel Bourbon Chevy had to push so hard. I just wish we might be equal ties with the no. 20 (Christopher Bell). I don’t know if that was the difference. I know he was really fast and he had a good race car. I feel like it might help keep me a little better, but even the last yellow flag we had, I felt like the gap I had on the field, I was far enough from the front that I could run the clean lines, the lines I wanted to keep the tires and could come as much as I could see. But once we had so yellow, it was just a defense mode. You are in complete and completely the gate out of the tires at that point, and I just don’t have it over the no. 20. Hate it that the contact we made between two and three also destroyed our race car. It bent the right-tone link and struck everything out of it. At the end, I just had nothing there to compete with the guys. ‘

Chris Buescher – Complete 7th: ‘This 17 team struggled to get our Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse to P7 here. We are happy with that. It was a very difficult day; Many up and downs. We never brought ourselves to the track position we wanted. We want to be better. It was a good day, but I just feel like we’re not completely competitive enough to win here at Cota. We were very close to all the other road courses – we feel like we have a chance to win at the other. We still have to make a few adjustments to our Mustang here in this place. A good show for this new course. We mostly stayed out of the melee, and I am proud of everyone in this Fastenal team. They did a good job today. “

Noah Gragson – finished 8th: “It didn’t look good after the first innings. We were really, really bad. We stopped our heads and never stopped. This team from Rush Trucks Centers has just done an incredible job of twisting on this Ford Mustang Dark Horse. We persevered and did not allow that early adversity to undergo us. It was a lot of hard work throughout the day, but I am very proud of everyone’s efforts. It just matters what that scoreboard says at the end of the day, not what it takes to get there. We brought it home in one piece and in the top 10. “

Todd Gilliland – 10th finished: “We knew it would look different today. We started 10th and finished 10th, but we struggled all day. We were in order at the beginning, but we held behind the (no.) 9 literally in turn 1. That’s how it sometimes goes. I am just very proud of the fight in our team. We went through a lot. We got a little happy with the prudence at the end, but in general we only fought through everything. It brought home a top 10 final for our Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse and we can be proud of what we got the result. “

Michael McDowell – 11th ended: ‘Definitely an up-and-off day for us in our number 71 Gainbridge Chevrolet. We had decent speed. We got a track position early and we tried to create a strategy, but unfortunately had a violation of pit roads that we put in the back. Tracking position is so important. We tried to return. We fought hard all day and we had a fairly good car. It’s something to build on. We hoped to get back to the top -10, but just walked around. Really proud of the effort. Scored a few points again and got some stage points. Not ideal because we’re going to win, but we’re getting closer. We’re just going to keep grinding. “

Cole Custer – End 23rd: “It was a lot of up and downs. A hard fight day for sure. Our guys did a good job throughout the day. We brought a fairly fast Ford Mustang dark horse, but we had some hiccups throughout the day. I feel that, coming back and getting a good result at the end of the day was not a bad thing. We will just keep building from here. “

Austin Dillon – 35th finished: ‘We had an up and down day at the Circuit of the Americas with our number 3 Breztri Aerosphere Chevrolet. We played strategy and placed early in both stages for better track position at the beginning of the next time. Our car handled well, and we just tried to be patient until the end. With 18 laps to go, we run in the top 20, and the no. 11 locked up his leading tires and wiped out us. My team did a good job of doing the repairs, but the back was too much to get ready and we had to go to the garage. Bummed for our Richard Childress Racing team. I felt like we had a top-15 car, and it sucked that we couldn’t show it today. Next week to Phoenix. “

Daniel Suarez – 36th ended: “I just hit the curb, beat the ground and then it rinsed me out. If you have a low air pressure, it is very easy to do because the car is lower on the ground. I wish I could say it was a big mistake, but it wasn’t. It may have been just a bandwidth too far to the left, and I hit the curb and I washed out. ‘

Connor Zilisch – finished 37th: ‘We had a very fast number 87 Red Bull Chevrolet. I had so much fun to prepare for this event. The second phase, which drives from outside the top 30 to 14th, was a lot of fun. I overtook a lot of guys I watched on TV. Hopefully I get the chance to come back and do it again. I had an absolute explosion through the field, and I wish it didn’t end early. ‘

Eighteen-year-old Connor Zilisch ended a day after winning the Xfinity race on Cota.