"I kind of felt like there was an interesting opportunity there that was presenting itself. I was kind of catching those guys and running them down for a couple laps there towards the end. I think they were pushing each other a little bit, kind of messing each other up more so than
being able to run clean laps.
"I was gaining. I wasn't going to get there. But obviously they got together there in that final corner. I wasn't sure if Chase was going to push the issue and push back on Blaney and knock him through the turn and make him miss the exit or what was going to
happen. The both of them had to make the turtles, if you will. They just got together and started crashing.
"When that started happening, I was hoping they were going to wreck long enough that I could get up in there and get by them, we could win the thing. It's never over till it's over at these types of places, especially when you have those last-corner,
last-ditch-effort chicanes like here and the Roval." - Kyle Busch, race winner
"I certainly wasn't trying to wreck him. That's a dumb question. But obviously I'm thinking that I can pass him and win the race or I wouldn't do it.
"Yeah, obviously coming into a tight corner there, I drove in so hard, you know, and I was to the right, my angle was really bad. I just had to stop really to try to make the corner. At that point we were side-by-side trying to stay off the curb. We both know
that the curb, you don't want to hit any more of it than you have to.
"Yeah, I hate it. Like I said on TV there, I certainly don't want to wreck him out of anybody. And more than anything, hate neither one of us won. Hate to hand it to somebody else like that." - Chase Elliott, finished
second
"For one, the package, way better, way, way better. Able to stay behind cars better. I think that was definitely a gain. The draft on the straightaway wasn't any less. I could tell you that much. It's surprising to think a big spoiler punches a bigger hole in the air, but it didn't
really affect the draft much at all. I think that's kind of interesting.
"Then the curbing, yeah, we got to do something. I felt like I was dirt racing still out there (smiling). Just a mud bath back there. That's kind of what plugged up our grill in the first place. 21 was in front of me. What ends up happening, you're nose to tail
on the car in front of you, you can't see the curbs to your right. Imagine being right behind somebody. You can't see where those curbs are. You just physically can't see it. So you end up going shorter and shorter to the right to try to, one, get your angle better, but two, try to find some vision. You do that and you go through the mud.
"It kicks up on the racetrack. You hit the exit one because you hit the one in the middle of it. They got to do something to clean that up. I don't know what the answer is completely. Probably putting some of those yellow curbs that you see at the final chicane
probably somewhere in there to try to stop that I think would help." - Joey Logano, finished third
"I mean, obviously he didn't mean to wreck me. I mean, of course he didn't mean to do that. But I ended up wrecked. It's kind of just what it is.
"I mean, of course, you never mean to wreck anybody usually. I know he didn't mean to. But [he] drove off in there pretty deep. Personally, he wasn't going to make the corner. It was going to be very hard for him to do it. Just a shame that we
ended up getting turned around.
"Am I going to make the same move if we're in the same position two weeks from now? Hell, yeah. I mean, why not?
"But I told him if you're going to make a move like that, make sure you at least win the race. Don't hand it to the third-place guy." - Ryan Blaney, finished 13th
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.