NASCAR: Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Post-Race Quotes
Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday night’s NASCAR 2025 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Chase Elliott – 1st Place: “I know it’s not a points race, but it is nice to win, for sure. Just really proud of our team for just continuing to keep our heads down and push forward, for sure.
“Had a tough race. Ryan (Blaney) kept me honest there at the end. Denny (Hamlin) was really good at the second half of that break. I just felt like he was kind of riding, and I was afraid to lose control of the race and not be able to get it back. Yeah, fortunately it worked out. Great way to start the season.
“… Honestly, felt like there at the end of the first hundred that Denny and Tyler (Reddick) had gotten better than us, and we needed to be a good bit improved to track those guys back down. Was kind of afraid if we lost control, it was going to be hard to get it back. (Crew chief Alan Gustafson) made some good adjustments there at the break. We were able to get back to second. I felt like I needed to take my shot and try to get the lead. If it worked out, great. If Denny got me back, then so be it. I just felt like my best chance to win was to try to get control of the race in that moment. Took that opportunity and was fortunate enough to kind of have the race play out in our favor. Certainly Ryan kept us honest there at the end, too.”
Ryan Blaney – 2nd Place: “I got to 10th before the break and I kind of got to the top-five relatively quick – a couple of restarts went my way – and by the time I got to second I saved a pretty good bit even to get to second because I knew it might go the whole way, and then it was just kind of like a game between [Chase Elliott] and myself like who can save more right-rear tire. I just didn’t quite have enough to lean on there at the end. I started pushing like with 25 to go and I just didn’t have enough. I needed some help by lappers and I just never really could get there. I kind of just didn’t have enough to lean on, but it was fun coming from the back and just not quite having enough, but it’s always fun when you can move forward like that.”
Denny Hamlin – 3rd Place: “I just didn’t do very well on that restart there, and kind of lost the bottom and Chase (Elliott) took advantage of it. Once you get the lead, it is a lot easier to hang on to it. I thought that they were just a little better that second half than we were, along with the 12 (Ryan Blaney) was as well. We just have to get a little bit better, but overall, a good day for our Sport Clips Toyota.”
Joey Logano – 4th Place: “I got damage early in the race, like lap three. That puts you an adjustment behind because in the 100 lap break you’re sitting there saying, ‘OK, I was really tight but was that because my toe was out a lot, or am I really that tight?’ So that makes it a challenging adjustment and really just kind of put us one adjustment behind. I think I could have maybe been in contention there. We had decent track position. I was trying to manage where I was before the 100 lap break so I could still be in the hunt. We just had a couple of mediocre restarts where I couldn’t launch as good and let a couple cars down in front of me, and then the long haul there I was able to get a couple cars there at the end of the race. I was trying to position myself to where I was in the second row and you never know what happens on a late race restart at a track like this, so it was just trying to say semi close and hope for a caution, which there never was, but, overall, I would say the race was pretty interesting.”
Bubba Wallace – 5th Place: “I hate that I got into the 6 (Brad Keselowski). I didn’t want to get a top-five finish that way. He was doing everything he could to get down – and I got greedy and wanted to fill the hole. I really didn’t think I hit him that hard, but obviously I did, so apologize for that. A good day – I wish I had the hard charger award. The 12 (Ryan Blaney) beat me for that. I looked in the mirror, before the break, and he is two back and I’m like, he’s fast. But all-in-all, a good day for our Leidos Toyota Camry. We start off the season with a top-five. Does that count? We will count it. All-in-all, a good day – we were still missing it on something. This tire was also from Martinsville in the fall. I didn’t like the car then. I don’t like the car now, but you have to fight for it. I need to look back on what I need to do better with this tire. I think it is more me than the car – just getting the potential, but all-in-all, it was a fun night. Crowd was loud and proud, and it was a good time.”
Ross Chastain – 6th Place: “Well we were in the race, but we weren’t up front. For us to lead the way with a sixth-place finish was our strongest showing of the weekend and we ended the best that we were all weekend, so that’s promising. But we need more speed. We were proud last night driving home that we locked-in all three cars, but we want to do it up front.”
Austin Cindric – 7th Place: “I thought we did a good job of making our Freightliner Ford Mustang Dark Horse better from Saturday night and even from the first 100 laps to the second 100 laps. I can’t really complain. I thought we had speed to race in the top five. We made a lot of passes under green on that long run and felt like we had a reasonable car and kept the tires under it. These quarter mile events have been a struggle for me the last four years, so it’s really good progress and a solid showing to start the season for the 2 car.”
Tyler Reddick – 8th Place: “After we had all those restarts up top there and we finally got going, my car, the handling was just not quite the same. It got really, really tight. It just put me in a bad spot there. Really slow and not pointed where I needed to be and people were able to get to my bumper. … It never really recovered to where it was in the first half of the race, unfortunately.”
Shane van Gisbergen – 9th Place: “Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I think I still put myself in bad spots and got moved out of the way. And then, I didn’t know how to get back down without making people mad. But yeah, I had a lot of fun.”
Chris Buescher – 10th Place: “We put ourselves in a good position there at the start of the race by winning our heat yesterday, and overall, I thought the car was solid. I’m really proud of our guys and their effort, and we’ll look to carry this momentum into Daytona weekend.”
Ryan Preece – 11th Place: “We made gains on the break. I think we were running 20th and struggling to be there, and made good adjustments and got ourselves back to 11th. We didn’t really have any other opportunities to go forward, so at the end of the day I’m happy with positive changes and just ready to move forward to the Duels (at Daytona) and the big show.”
Josh Berry – 13th Place: “It was a lot of fun. I thought the guys did a really good job making the car better and adjusting on it from practice and the heat races to give me a really good car for the feature. Honestly, I felt like we had some more potential there if things would have went a little different, but, overall, I’m really happy with it. Obviously, the goal is to come here and make the race, so to do that and get a decent finish in our first time out it was a lot of fun.”
Kyle Busch – 15th Place: “The overall event at Bowman Gray Stadium was a good one, but it wasn’t the result we wanted for our zone Chevrolet team. At the start of the feature, the car was plowing tight and wouldn’t turn. We got spun around and ended up going two laps down before the halfway break. (Crew chief) Randall (Burnett) and the No. 8 guys made adjustments during the break, and when we went back green, it was the best the car had felt. It was doing what it needed to do. With the help of a couple cautions, we got back on the lead lap and worked our way up to 15th at the checkered.”
Brad Keselowski – 21st Place: “We showed a lot of potential early on, but we got spun there with 75 to go and really never had a chance to recover. We were solid. Just a fifth-to-10th-place car the whole day. We tried to get a little bit more but overall, a good debut outing for a team that’s had a lot of changes.”
Daniel Suarez – 22nd Place: It was a little tricky tonight for the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevy team. I thought we were going to have a little more speed. We were decent in the short run, but not too good in the long run, which was the opposite of how I thought we were going to be. Overall, it was a good event.”