Talladega āBig Oneā Shows Limits of Current Cup Car, Says Logano
Logano: Talladega Crash Proves NASCAR Car Can't Race Without Wrecking
Carson Hocevar celebrated his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega, expressing gratitude to his family and team. Other drivers, including Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace, reflected on their disappointing finishes and looked ahead to the Texas race.
Carson Hocevar ā winner: "I feel like every time I've ever seen the crowd, really got to hear 'em, I've had this thought up for a while. I've messed it up every which way to not be able to do it. I don't care if it took 20 minutes or whatever, I was going to figure it out how to do it. It took me a while. I'm so thankful. This is the biggest dream I've ever thought of. Thank you, everybody. I couldn't have done it in any better way. Hopefully my grandpa's watching. My grandma died last year, so I'm so thankful that I can give my grandpa a trophy now. Wish my parents were here. All thanks to Jeff Dickerson. Unbelievable. I'm just so thankful, thank you. I posted on Instagram I didn't really care, we were going to win, and we won, so... I'm just so thankful. I knew we were going to win. I really did."
Ty Gibbs ā 34th: "āWell, we had a really good first stage in our SAIA Camry. Unfortunately, not a lot of people pitted with us, and we just barely made it on the lead lap at the end of the first stage. I thought we were really fast. I thought our car was really good, but didnāt end well. Unfortunate end of the day for us. We will keep working hard. Iām excited for Texas. Not a lot of luck at the roulette table today at Talladega, so we will look forward.ā
William Byron ā 35th: "I was just trying to get slowed down so I didnāt get any major impacts. It didnāt feel like I hit that hard, but somebody got me in the right-front and I got damage to the suspension. We didnāt have the best Stage One, in terms of how the strategy shook out. We kind of cycled back a little bit. We were just trying to get back towards the front, but we didnāt get the chance. Itās a bummer, but weāll regroup and get ready for Texas next weekend.ā
Bubba Wallace ā 36th: "Got wrecked there, unfortunately. Our Toyota Camry was a little unstable getting pushed, but manageable. Maybe that hard of a hit was too much, so unfortunately, we wiped out a bunch of cars. Got to debrief, got to be better. Just kind of riding around, not doing much in the first stage ā nothing to show for it at Talladega. Unfortunate, it is a place we come to with a lot of confidence, and it is what it is. We will put this one behind us and go on to Texas and have some fun."
Ryan Blaney ā 37th: āI feel like we all just got pinballing off each other there. The 1 got up in front of me. I was coming, so Iām kind of checking and trying to get on him OK, and it looked like the 23 got up in front of him while we were coming, and then we all just kind of got nose bumper tag there. Youāre trying to lift and stabilize it and the 23 ended up getting turned in front of everybody and causing a big wreck. I donāt know. Itās not like thereās any blame on anybody. Itās what this thing is. We see each other. We all just kind of get bumping and banging and one guy eventually gets turned with the car being as unstable as it is. It definitely stinks to be out early. Thereās no bubble. Youāre just ramming through the guy in front of you. You have to be very precise with how you lift and drag brake to get on them gently. Thereās no bubble at all. Itās just running through people. Youāre just trying to take care of the person in front of you and itās hard to do. Weāre just all on top of each other and thatās what you get when youāre all on top of each other. Obviously, I would like a change to the race car. I feel like we can be better at these speedways with just how the car races and try to be not as all on top of each other and just running through each other. I obviously have my hand up to wanting to make a change because weāre either fuel saving or weāre running all over each other just because thatās what this car is and thatās how you go forward. Youāre just running through and itās however hard you can push somebody. The cars are pretty unstable in the back. They get tank swapping or if you get ping-ponging they just canāt take it. Hopefully, I donāt really see it changing this year at all. I donāt think you can during the middle of the year. You could, but I feel like hopefully that Speedweeks deal in January we can try a lot of stuff out.ā
Carson Hocevar won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega.
Carson Hocevar expressed his gratitude and mentioned it was his biggest dream to win, dedicating the victory to his family.
Drivers like Ty Gibbs, William Byron, and Bubba Wallace faced challenges, finishing 34th, 35th, and 36th respectively.
The next NASCAR Cup Series event is scheduled to take place in Texas.
Logano: Talladega Crash Proves NASCAR Car Can't Race Without Wrecking
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Joey Logano ā 39th: āThey just started wrecking above me. Youāre kind of seeing it happen and hope they stay up there and youāre able to get by it. The wreck started moving down the hill and there we were. Itās just unfortunate. Thatās Talladega. You start pushing and shoving. We got to the point where we could start racing and not have to save fuel and weāve proven with this car we canāt race each other without wrecking. We got maybe 10 or 12 laps of racing in before we wrecked. Thatās about as far as I think weāve ever gone. I enjoyed (Stage 1). I mean, itās a crew chiefās game at that point, and youāre just trying to do what they tell you to do. It was interesting, I think. I donāt know what it was from the fanās perspective, but from inside the car it was interesting seeing how it all played out. The team did a good job getting our Mustang able to get some stage points there, which thatās the only positive of today. We probably got seven points on the day or whatever that is gonna be, so itās not real good.ā
Kyle Larson ā 40th: "There was a big stack-up and I was just in the middle of it. It was a bummer for this No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet team. Just another Talladega result for us, but we got ourselves back there. I donāt know what happened on our first pit stop, but we didnāt get as much fuel in it that we needed to. I was saving fuel and got shuffled to the back. We had to take a little longer on the next pit stop, so we lost the draft and had to restart in the back to start Stage Two. It was starting to get hairy there at the start of the stage, so I wasnāt surprised to get wrapped up in that crash. Itās just an unfortunate end to the day.ā