Joey Logano — winner: “A win anywhere at this point would have sounded great, but coming here to North Wilkesboro is awesome. I picked up a passenger on the backstretch. We had some fun together. What a great car. Paul Wolfe, what a great car he’s put together for us today. Just was able to execute a smooth race. Everyone on pit road did a great job. Just feels good to be back in victory lane. It’s been a tough year. Doing some big smoky donuts around this place felt really good. It’s just something that clicks for us (at North Wilkesboro). Paul put together a good car, and I just feel I know exactly what I need to go fast around this place, and he’s able to give it to me. I knew coming this weekend we’ve got to capitalize on the points. A win is great, but we really need the points. So really capitalized on those tonight. The pressure was there for sure. Denny got really good the last run, and honestly it was whoever was out front was going to win the race that last run. We were pretty dominant most of the race, but Denny got better. Just a decent job keeping up with the track. Gosh, it feels good. I’ve got to say hey to my wife and all the rest of the kids. They’re all at home. I wish you guys were here to celebrate, but dad’s going to be home a little late.”
Denny Hamlin — second: “You just got to compliment (Logano) on a great day and a great drive. They were really good. There was a lot of times that I felt like my car was kind of close to where it needed to be and just a smidge off. It was a great battle. We at least were able to keep him honest there, but he had a lot of speed and never really gave up on the short run or long run. Great job for our whole team to keep us in the ballgame, but we’ll have to regroup. I thought it was a really impressive drive from (Logano). He maneuvered through traffic really well and did everything that we know Joey to do. Really feel great about our day, though. Such a big turnaround from where we were last year. Just one sport short.”
Chase Briscoe — third: “We had a phenomenal Toyota. That was a long race, but it was pretty fun for me just because our car was so good. Yeah, I thought we were good enough to win. That last run we kind of lost it, but our car was exceptional in the long run. So I could just run wherever and passed a lot of cars. Just the caution bit us in the second stage. Who knows what would have happened if it would have worked out our way. But great night and obviously a great car and looking forward to going back home to Indy next week. Starting 30th, I didn’t think we would get any stage points, especially that first stage and was able to get to eighth. The second stage, even with that caution, we were having to do the wavearound and to drive to third that run, I thought we were really, really good. Definitely good solid night and hopefully go home to Indy and get one there. I talked about how Joey was going to be really difficult to beat. The Penske cars are just really, really good on the short tracks, and Joey is exceptional. There’s a lot of short tracks coming up. We’ve got to step up our game. We’re good, we just need to be kind of where we are at the mile and a halves.”
Ty Gibbs — fourth: “We had such a great car. I really appreciate my team and the car they gave me. It’s just so unfortunate. The lights are such a pain in the ass here, and I just really go in the car and rip the dash out of it and punch myself because it’s just frustrating. We’ll just keep going. I really appreciate my team. It was a fun day. I had so much fun tonight. I wish I could have gone up there and raced my teammates and those guys. It would have been fun. I think I would have put on a great show.”
Shane van Gisbergen — fifth: “When I took the lead, I got pretty excited! I don’t know what to do. Awesome day. Amazing to get stage points both stages. A bit pissed I threw it away in the last corner on that first stage. Just awesome racing up front all night. It’s just hot, man. Just soaked the whole time. When you’re behind people, you just start cooking as well. You feel the brakes, the tires, everything just gets hot. I was struggling. I felt fine, but when I stopped, I went oh, I was pretty cooked. Yeah, it’s a bit like a road course. I tried right-foot braking for a bit. Half of the race, I right-foot braked and I just feel comfortable doing that. It’s a real balance track and you can really effect the car with your driving technique, so I felt comfortable doing that.”
Bubba Wallace — sixth: “The heat was OK. I was fine in the car. It’s just the adrenaline. As soon as the race ends, I could still run another 100 laps, but as soon as you stop and reset, the adrenaline just leaves the building. All in all, a good night for the team. No yellow-line infractions. I get to keep my finishing position. It sets us up nice for the Brickyard next week, which we have a lot of confidence and momentum going to, so I’m excited for that. Just another clean race. I keep saying it, clean races, we average finishes of sixth to eighth. We’re not happy with that, but we know that’s good enough to lock ourselves into the Chase and go compete for a championship. A tick of improvement for our short-track program. We’ll talk to the other two cars and figure out what they thought, but we still have a lot of work to go. All in all, a good night here. On to Indy. I hope it was a good race from the stands and the fans’ viewpoint. For us, we’re so fast in the center of the corner, and you can’t pass doing that. And you take out all the bumper structure, and you can’t hit anybody, so all in all, just really pleased with how our night went. Controlled everything we can control. Pit crew did a great job. Firing on all cylinders.”
Brad Keselowski — seventh: “It used to be 500 or so here I’m told by the guys who have been around here for a long time and I respect them after today because 450 is a long time, 500, that must have been grueling. It was a good day for us with theFord Mustang. We got a top 10, seventh here, some stage points. We just executed really well. The car was not the fastest, but we didn’t beat ourselves. We had good strategy by Jeremy Bullins and solid stops. We’re missing our jack man, Dustin Lineback. We’re thinking about him, but the guys stepped up and did a good job. We’re gonna have to earn (a spot in the Chase). We had a really difficult two-month stretch, where we dropped from in the top 10 in points to 19th, and we need to rebound from that. Days like today give us hope that we can do that. The short tracks and superspeedways are the best chances for the Fords, and we need to capitalize on that for sure. That doesn’t mean we’re gonna throw away the other races, we still have to make the most of those too.”
Todd Gilliland — eighth: “Overall, that was just a very solid night for us. I’m pretty happy with how we unloaded. My crew chief felt pretty confident, and we worked hard the whole weekend, and I feel like we got it closer to where we needed to be. It was a completely different short track package for us, and I’m excited for here and then something similar maybe like Richmond and places like that. We’ll keep chipping away, but I’m really proud of my team for digging in. What we’ve had here hasn’t been good and just going out on an island, and luckily, it was a little bit better. Yeah, absolutely. We definitely caught a big lucky break there at the beginning, but that was strategy. We knew there was a risk with short pitting, and everybody did, so I was definitely very proud of the strategy and kind of the way we executed the whole race. That was probably about as good as it could have gone. It’s crazy. We’ve got to beat one more guy for a million dollars. Yeah, (Blaney) is pretty good. That’s for sure. That’s the reason why they’re at this point in the bracket, so I’m excited about it. That’s the crazy thing is that anything can happen. We have to do what’s best for the 34 team and race all the way to the checkered flag because you never really know. We’ll keep grinding away. It’s pretty wild. I’m pretty excited.”
Daniel Suarez — ninth: “It kind of reminded me a little bit like Bristol (Motor Speedway). It was a grind-type of day. The car was never perfect, but you had to get the most out of it that you could. A ninth-place finish, that’s not what we’re here for, but the No. 7 Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation Chevrolet team did a good job and executed all night. We didn’t have a car to win or run top-five, but we had a top-10 car and that’s where we ended up. Proud of the effort by the whole team. Ryan (Sparks, crew chief) did a good job on the strategy and they made good calls on adjustments. We just have to keep pushing.”
Ryan Preece — 10th: “It was a long night. We had a caution go our way, so that was nice. I’m just proud of Derrick’s calls, and we had a good day.”
Ryan Blaney — 11th: “I thought we did a really good job of coming from the back and where we got to. Midway through stage two I thought was really, really good and I just settled into the fourth to sixth place. I kind of felt like that’s where I was at and then I just sped getting onto pit road on the green flag stop. That hurt our night. That’s a bummer. I thought we could have run in that fourth to sixth range where we were at, but it’s still a decent day overall. We’re moving on. I didn’t really know out there where the 20 was at, but we’ll go for it at Indy. The Blue Oval is gonna win the In-Season Challenge. It’ll be a good race (against Todd Gilliland). That group at FRM does a really good job and Todd is a really talented race car driver, so it’ll be a tough one. Indy, a lot of strategy goes on there and a lot of things can happen, so we’re gonna have to be on top of our game like every week. But it’s nice that a couple of Blue Ovals have a shot at it.”
Ty Dillon — 16th: “Honestly, we didn’t do much different than what we’ve been doing. Since the All-Star Race at Dover (Motor Speedway), we’ve just had good execution. We had one little slip up on a pit stop, but we rebounded really well. We had some things go our way. I think that’s why it’s so important to focus on the recipes of success and don’t be so focused on the results because you can’t really control the results. They’ll swing like a pendulum and it’s in our favor right now. This is who we really are when things go right, so it’s nice to see the fruits of our labor.”
Chris Buescher — 20th: “We started strong, but we struggled a bit on the long runs, and it was challenging trying to get around this place toward the end there. Kind of just the battle of this place.”
Austin Dillon — 23rd: “I’m proud of the fight from everyone on the No. 3 Chevrolet team tonight at North Wilkesboro Speedway. We had a fast Chevy and raced our way into the top-10, but unfortunately, an untimely caution after our first green flag stop put us two laps down. We were battling our way back, making the corrections needed to combat the looseness the car was developing, and were hoping for a caution late in the run, but didn’t catch the break we were hoping for. We’ll leave here with the 23rd-place finish and focus on the upcoming short tracks on the schedule.”
Ross Chastain — 27th: “We dug ourselves a little hole for tonight by having to serve a pass-through penalty on Lap One. We worked our way back onto the lead lap at the first stage break, but the handling of the Chevy just wasn’t what we needed on the long green flag runs. It makes it difficult when you don’t have much time to make adjustments. The guys worked hard to make some changes and we gambled on some pit strategy that didn’t fall our way. It makes for a tough day of short-track racing.”
Austin Hill — 33rd: “Tough night for our team. Our Chevrolet was tight, really tight, from the start. Andy (Street, crew chief) and the guys kept making adjustments throughout the night but nothing seemed to help get it on the loose side. It was a grind out there, but there will be nights like this in the learning process. We will shift our focus to next week.”
Josh Berry — 36th: “It looked like (Christopher Bell) just got loose and chased it up into us and we wrecked. I don’t know. I can’t put into words the amount of stuff that’s happened this year. I mean, we drove up to probably just outside the top 10, we had top five lap times, the car was good, and then we pit and the caution of course comes out and we get trapped two laps down, wave around, just back there in the crap and just get wrecked. It’s disappointing. I felt like tonight was the night we certainly could have gotten a good finish like it looks like our teammates are gonna do, but that was tough. I’m aggravated at (Bell), but he’s in the same position I am. He was back there and just got loose. Yeah, I would say so. Martinsville, we were pretty good too, but I feel like to start where we did and move through the field, we passed a lot of cars. Both pit stops we had early we got blocked in on pit road and lost a bunch of spots and then had to keep re-passing a bunch of cars, too. I felt like our car was pretty good. It definitely had speed and was just a couple tweaks away from being really, really good. We just needed some track position. It’s tough. I’ve worked my whole life to get in this position, and now I feel like people view me completely differently after this year compared to what I’ve done up until this point. I’ve never lived through a season like this when it’s just one thing after another. Things that people don’t see that don’t make it on TV. I don’t go on social media every week and post about every little thing that went wrong in our race. We just can’t catch a break, flat out. Even this week, we were eighth in practice and had a good car and, of course, qualifying gets rained out. If we get to qualify, I felt like we would have had a much better starting spot, a much better pit stall. It’s just one thing after another and it’s certainly discouraging.”
