Chase Briscoe — winner: “Ty Gibbs, incredible teammate there. I would not have won that race without Ty. Just an amazing team effort. I can’t believe I won a superspeedway race. I haven’t done it any level anywhere. Just an unbelievable atmosphere. It’s not hit me. We’re going to Phoenix! So thankful that the Lord has blessed me opening doors, even closing doors at times. Opening an incredible door here with Joe Gibbs Racing. I say it all the time, even today, I had such a peace. Normally I’m scared to death, nervous wreck around this place.”
Todd Gilliland — second: “I’m definitely excited, but maybe wishing a little bit what I could’ve done differently. I’m sure in 10 or 15 minutes it will sink in and I’ll be pretty happy. I mean, that’s just the dream, right? To be in contention to win a race like this, and I certainly think we had everything to get it done in our Ford Mustang. We just came up a bit short. It happened to work out right that I saw my teammates a lot today, and we work well together. I’m really proud of them and really happy with that. At the end, when it was me and Zane on the bottom lane, I was really hoping we could just get clear and take a one-two finish there, but it never comes that easy. We’ll keep building on all of those aspects for Martinsville and Phoenix.”
Ty Gibbs — third: ““It was my best shot to win and just try to make myself go into the best possible position to win, so happy to help (Chase Briscoe) get into the final 4. I wish we could’ve won that one. We were really fast today. We won Stage 1, and Briscoe won Stage 2, and we both were close there for the win. I’m happy for that team. Just being a great teammate out here doing the teammate thing. I’m happy for them. I hope they can go and win it. I’d like to see them do that.”
Cole Custer — fifth: “It was awesome. We’ve been really good at the speedways this year, and we just bought our time and were there at the very end, trying to be smart. Our guys have brought really fast Ford Mustangs to the track. We wish we were five spots better, but it was definitely a great way to get a solid finish here and hopefully carry that momentum into Martinsville.”
Christopher Bell — eighth: “It’s so going to come down to Martinsville. First of all I want to say congratulations to Chase and the 19 team. They’re doing an amazing job. Obviously, our company is hitting on all cylinders. What a great playoff run, great two weeks to get two of them locked in. Plus 37 seems really good, but you’ve got to expect a bottom four winner. Any of us could win at Martinsville. It’s going to be a battle all day next week.”
Brad Keselowski — 10th: “We came down to that next to last restart, and it just didn’t come together.”
Ross Chastain — 13th: “It’s not often you can leave Talladega in one piece and have a fairly uneventful day so that feels good. We had a pretty good Chevrolet today. It was a little tight when I was trying to follow the car in front of me really close, but overall, it was pretty comfortable to drive. We’ll take 13th place and move on to Martinsville next weekend.”
Joey Logano — 16th: “It was a battle throughout the day. The laps that mattered, we weren’t there, unfortunately. Didn’t have a good enough start in the first stage. Went from the lead back to fifth or sixth. The second stage with the caution falling in the green-flag cycle got us in a bad spot there. Then I thought we were in a good spot at the end and had a teammate in front of me, which is the perfect lineup. I can’t say everyone did a good enough job to stay up there and do our part. Really frustrating because you’re so close and see in front of you what you’ve got to do, and you can’t do anything about it. It’s frustrating. We know what we’ve got to do now. It’s pretty simple. (The car) was a little off, but it made it, so that part’s good.”
Logano: Talladega ‘a battle throughout the day’
Joey Logano reflects on the “battle” at Talladega that leaves him frustrated after being unable to capitalize on what was a solid day all things considered.
Kyle Busch — 19th: “We had a fast No. 8 Chevrolet today at Talladega Superspeedway. We qualified up front, the car drove great, and we led laps. I gambled on the top line at the end and it didn’t pay off. We still have two races left in 2025 to get our Richard Childress Racing machine back to victory lan,e and that remains the focus.”
Austin Hill — 22nd: “We had our Chevrolet in position for the win in the closing laps, being the second car in the outside lane. (Chris Buescher) must have got tight and went wide into the corner, but we were connected and I was pushing like heck. By the time I looked in the mirror, the No. 77 was already inside. It sucks because we were going to have a shot at it. On the overtime restart, we couldn’t make ground up. I’m proud of everyone on this No. 33 team, everyone at RCR and ECR though. We made improvements in our five Cup Series starts together this season and proved that we can race well on Sundays. Really grateful to Richard Childress for the opportunity.”
Ryan Blaney — 23rd: “I thought we did a good job. Got control of the race after the last pit stop and just faded. Had some guys saving or something. I don’t know. They wouldn’t push. It was pretty surprising a couple of guys weren’t pushing. I figured we’d have a little more help than that from some people. But I thought we did a great job, me and Joey getting ourselves in the position we needed, and then it just fell apart and finished terrible. Try to go have a big day next week. That’s all we can do.”
Blaney ‘just faded’ near end at Talladega
Ryan Blaney was proud of the position he and his team put themselves in, but the car “just faded” in the closing laps of the race that puts him in a must-win situation heading to Martinsville.
William Byron — 25th: “It’s just the way that it goes. Just felt like I was in the right position on the bottom lane, and we just couldn’t get linked up off (Turn) 4, and those guys pushed past us, and then (Larson) ran out of fuel and just kind of broke up all the energy. Just couldn’t quite get the pushes to go our way at the very end. Definitely got to go (to Martinsville) and try to win the race. We’ve put ourselves in position to win these last two, so I don’t see why it would be any different there. Just got to go there and regroup and try to win.”
Byron: Pushing and shoving ‘the way that it goes’
William Byron justifies the hits he dished out and received as being “the way that it goes” in high-stakes races and laments being out of position and not having any pushes go his way at Talladega.
Kyle Larson — 26th: “Just unfortunate that it didn’t work out there. It started giving me a warning there in the middle of 1 and 2 and down the back it started stumbling, so I just got out of the way. It’s probably one of the more bummer superspeedway finishes I’ve had just because we were once again in contention, and it was right where I wanted to be, but it didn’t work out, so we’ll keep putting ourselves in contention, and it’ll eventually work out. You’ve got to assume that one of those guys below the cutline is going to win (at Martisnville). They’re all really good there. So then kind of got to fight with (Christopher Bell) throughout the night and try to outpoint him. We have a decent Martinsville package, as does everybody in the Round of 8, so it’ll be a fight. Even if I didn’t win, I wish we would have had those 20 spots at least, so that part sucks. We executed a great day today. We’ll try to do the same next week.”
Larson recounts ‘bummer’ finish at Talladega
Kyle Larson came up a few laps short of a strong finish at Talladega, but a miscommunication with crew chief Cliff Daniels on how far Larson’s remaining fuel would take him led to a “bummer” finish in 26th.
Austin Dillon — 27th: “We had a fast No. 3 Chevrolet this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, so great effort by everyone at RCR and ECR for all of the preparation leading into the race. We ended up with damage in a Stage 2 wreck and it put us behind. We weren’t able to recover and settled for 27th. It’s a shame but that’s how these speedway races go sometimes.”
Chris Buescher — 30th: “We had a really fast Ford and we were up there where we needed to be and just took a bad push down the back there. It ended up being a hard hit. The car was really fast and the RFK guys did a great job today. Just the way these things keep going. Ultimately, it was another fast Ford Mustang here. I appreciate the team doing such a good job and we will just try again.”
Austin Cindric — 34th: “We went through the first cycle, and it didn’t work out for us, I thought we did the right stuff there to get some stage points, that’s our priority. Yeah, so then it was just seeing whether we could get it fixed enough to go back out or not, but we had a steering rack issue so I couldn’t drive it out. Our Ford Mustang was really fast, and I felt like we positioned ourselves well for the cycle but maybe didn’t have enough cars there.”
Erik Jones — 35th: ““I’m not sure what went wrong there. I was pushing (Noah Gragson). Not sure if I was on him but I was tight to him. He seemed pretty stable, so I don’t know if I pushed too hard or got him in a bad spot or if I got aggressive too early. It’s just unfortunate. I felt like our No. 43 Camry XSE was good. Nothing to show for it. I don’t feel like it was too aggressive, but maybe he was more unstable than I thought he was. We’ll move on to Martinsville.”
Noah Gragson — 36th: “We executed that pit stop really well, and we were up there with Joey. He was running second in the bottom lane and I was just trying to control our lane from the lead, and (Erik Jones) was pushing really hard. You usually get those pushes late in the race in the third stage, but he was just pushing hard. It’s unfortunate. The back straightaway here is really rough and I was pushed in the wrong area and started wheelbarrowing down the backstretch before he caught me. Yeah, it’s just unfortunate. We have two more opportunities to end the season with strong races, but we were looking like we had a lot of speed. I was just trying to keep even with (AJ Allmendinger). There’s a couple of times where we both got clear of him. He was pushing really hard in the corner, places that guys don’t normally push in the first stage, whether it’s through the trioval or the corners. It just seemed a little bit aggressive in the first stage and we still had nine laps left, so that was definitely a bummer.”
AJ Allmendinger — 37th: “I feel all right. It knocked the breath out of me. As I stopped it, I felt like the car was catching on fire, so got out and tried to get my breath back. Feel OK now. I’ll probably be sore. A hard hit for my old body. Proud of our guys. Got it up front there. I kind of make these decisions after the pit stop, when you get to the front, maybe I’ll go run to the end of the stage, and I think we were leading there. Joey (Logano) was doing a really good job pushing me in the right areas. I felt we could direct both lines. I had Noah next to me and looked like Noah got turned getting in the corner, and it turned me straight up into the fence. So it’s disappointing. It’s why I hate this place. But it’s part of this racing. At least we were up front for a little bit there. Sucks to have it happen so early. But at the end of the day, I get to kiss Tara and Aero and I’ll be a little sore. Other than that, just disappointing. Always expect the worst here and hope for the best, and today we got the worst.”
Dega wreck ‘knocked the wind out of’ Allmendinger
AJ Allmendinger admits he’ll “probably be sore” after taking a bit hit in Stage 1 at Talladega and shares his perspective of the wreck that validates why he “hates this place.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — 38th: “I didn’t see anything but (Noah Gragson), unfortunately. We were leading that top lane. I felt like I did everything I needed for our team there; got off pit road really well and saved a lot of fuel. We were battling for a top-10 coming to the stage end. Maybe (Erik Jones), for some reason, pushed Gragson in the corner. I felt like it was a little early for that. I think up to that point, everyone was racing hard, but weren’t putting anybody in bad spots. It just looked like he got him on the right-rear side of the bumper and spun him there.”
Chase Elliott — 40th: “The assignment is very simple (for Martinsville). I don’t know about the crash. I saw someone get turned sideways. Just trying to get slowed up like normal and ended up getting turned sideways and slid into some people, and they slid back into me. I hate it. I felt like we had ourselves in a good spot before the cycle. I didn’t feel we executed the cycle very well. That put us back in the back again. I’m not sure if that would have helped us miss the wreck or not. All that’s very circumstantial. It is what it is. I can’t change it now. Just all eyes on Martinsville and try to go up there and get a win. … The energy was definitely picking up. Pretty much everything after the pit cycle was getting pretty crazy, so I wasn’t super surprised by it. Maybe I should have got out. … I wasn’t going to get any points where I was out. We were right on that cusp of if your lane really goes forward and catches the back part of the top-10, but it probably wasn’t worth the risk at the end of the day. It was really wild from the get-go. Even when we were saving fuel, we were running four-wide and getting a lot of confidence up.”
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