What drivers said at Nashville

LEBANON, Tenn. -- Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday night’s Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway.

ROSS CHASTAIN — Winner: “This is why every little kid out there anywhere in the world, when you get criticized, and you're going to if you're competitive, they will try to tear you down. You will start believing you can't do it. You have to go to your people, trust in the process, read your books, trust the big man's plan upstairs, just keep getting up and going to work. I got to tell you, a lot of self reflection throughout all this. I had a group that believed in me and they didn't let me get down. They bring rocket ships and I just try to point them to Victory Lane.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR — Finished 2nd: “Just needed to get the lead. Once we lost it, I probably made a bad move taking the bottom on a restart. Just too loose in the long runs. I could hang with whoever was leading. Just could never get off the corner good enough to get a move. Just lacking side bite. Overall just burning the rear tires off too much. Just really loose at the end of the race there as well. Just needed a little bit. Got lots of speed. Just could never get the balance where it needed to be.”

DENNY HAMLIN — Finished 3rd: “The field is so close. Everyone is running the same times. It’s really hard. I think we had a third-place car the entire race. The 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) was a little better, and the 1 (Ross Chastain) came on strong there in the end. That’s all we had with our FedEx Ground Toyota. Just an optimized day with no mistakes. We gave ourselves a chance – just didn’t have quite fast enough car today.”

CHASE ELLIOTT — Finished 4th: “It was solid, but we still needed a little bit. I actually thought we were the best at the start of the race and then we kind of got off there in the mid-stage and I think we basically just kind of got back to where we were and everyone else got a little better. But yeah, proud of the effort and to get two top-fives in a row is a good thing for us. Trying to get things going, so we will try again in Chicago.”

KYLE LARSON — Finished 5th: “We were pretty bad all race long and I don’t know how we ended up fifth there. Our team just did a good job with the pit cycles to leapfrog a few guys, and then we were actually somewhat decent on that last run and passed a couple of cars. So, I am surprised we ended up fifth. Happy with the effort and happy with another week of keeping our heads in it and getting a good finish out of the day.”

WILLIAM BYRON — Finished 6th: “We had decent balance once the sun was out and then okay through the middle portion of the race. Just not a lot of speed to catch those guys who were rolling the center, which is our weakness. We just got eaten up on the restarts not being able to roll into (Turn) 1.”

CHRISTOPHER BELL — Finished 7th: “It was a pretty solid day and something that we can build off of. We had a great start to the season and then a terrible stretch of races these last couple of months, so between Sonoma and here, it seems like we’ve got it turned around a little bit, so it was a pretty good showing for the DeWalt Camry.”

ERIK JONES — Finished 8th: “It was a good day. We had a good No. 43 Allegiant Chevy. We were able to run up towards the top-10 all day, so just need to build on that. If you can be up there and running competitively, it gives you something to work on. Today was the first day in a while that I felt like we were in the ballpark and where we need to be, so that’s a good step. I’m proud of the effort, for sure. We’re getting the cars better and where we want them to be, and hopefully just get them a little bit more moving forward.”

KYLE BUSCH — Finished 9th: “We had a really good No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevy, but just kept making mistakes again. We had a flat to begin the race, so that kind of set us behind, but we were able to recover from that. And then sped on pit road, so that set us back. We got involved in that wreck on the frontstretch, so we had some damage. By that time, the sun had gone down and everybody had picked up speed and worked on their cars, and it’s just really hard to pass. It just took us a long time to keep clawing back and getting back up as far as we could. Good finish overall, but definitely know there was more.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER — Finished 10th: “We had a really good day. Our car was really balanced all day; we didn’t have to make adjustments. We just couldn’t get the track positions and we lost spots on pit road and had to make up for it. At the end of the day, that probably cost up three or four spots overall. I’m proud of the team. We are making a lot of progress, we had a lot of speed all weekend. I’m looking forward to going to a street course here to hopefully make up some more ground.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI — Finished 11th: “There’s always something to learn. I’d like to find more speed. Just felt like I was driving over my head. Guys would miss corners, and I’d hit a perfect lap and just keep up. Then they’d finally hit the groove and drive away from me. It’s just frustrating as hell. We’re not bad. We just need more speed. We have the pit crew to do this, and I needed to do a little better on the restarts, for sure. I got ran over a couple times. But, we’re dabbling with it and need a little bit more.”

DANIEL SUAREZ — Finished 12th: “It wasn’t too bad. I thought we were going to be a little bit better than that, to be honest. I felt like our No. 99 Tootsies Chevy was a top-10 car most of the race. I don’t know what happened on the last run, the car was pretty bad. But very, very happy for Trackhouse Racing.”

AUSTIN DILLON — Finished 13th: “It was a long, hot weekend in the No. 3 Huk Chevrolet at Nashville Superspeedway. Crew chief Keith Rodden and all the guys on the No. 3 team adjusted on our Chevy throughout the race to improve handling and try to make us better on the short run. It was frustrating because we had a lot of ground to make up after starting 26th and everyone is so similar, speed-wise, that it was difficult to pass at times. We got pretty tight as the race progressed, especially on take-off. We did make progress, though, and for a while I thought we were going to be able to get a top-10 finish. I did everything I could, but it’s just tough out there. We’ll regroup and head to the Chicago Street Race next weekend.”

RYAN PREECE — Finished 16th: “Today was tough for our team but that was a great rally at the end. I battled a loose race car all day long and then I lacked forward drive. We were fast but we just needed to make so many adjustments to get it in the right spot and then we’d lose time on pit road. Our car really came to life at the end of the race and the last two adjustments my guys made were spot on. We salvaged a really decent finish for the day we could have had so I’m happy about that. We’ll keep building on it and head to Chicago where who knows what will happen.”

CHRIS BUESCHER — Finished 18th: “We struggled a little bit today, and we chased a few things – a few gremlins – and couldn’t quite get on-top of them. So, I guess we’ll definitely learn something from it. We have some work to do. I thought we were in a better place, so I’m a little bummed with our result.”

NOAH GRAGSON — Finished 26th: “It was a smooth day. Proud of the No. 42 Black Rifle Coffee Company Chevy team’s effort. We brought the car home in one piece. A day like this is what we needed to build momentum on.”