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MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES: ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CLASH AT DAYTONA

February 19, 2017

Daytona Beach, Florida

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and start our Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series post‑race here at Daytona International Speedway for the 39th annual Advance Auto Parts Clash. We are joined by second‑place driver Kyle Busch, driver of the No.18 M&M's Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, and third place driver, Alex Bowman, driver of the No.88 Nationwide Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
Kyle, let's start with you first; could you walk us through the last couple laps and just really how crazy it got out there?
KYLE BUSCH: Nope. I don't remember it. About the only thing I do remember, I guess, is when those guys all got sideways, I was expecting to just collected there on the outside. I didn't close my eyes, but I essentially was just holding on as tight as I could just like "Days of Thunder," just gas it and hope you clear the smoke, right?
We made it through, and then down the backstretch I saw the 22 had a big lead on us, so it kept growing, too. For some reason he had more momentum off the corner than I did, and I saw the 88 behind me and thought I had a shot with him if we could have got together a little bit better and him push me, we both could have got back up to the 22 I felt like. He would have been a sitting duck and we both could have raced for the win, but Bowman had other plans, which is fine. It's just racing, trying to get these guys' mindsets and seeing what they're thinking about in order to figure out what you've got to do later on this week. There's still two races to go.
THE MODERATOR: Alex, do you mind taking us through those final couple laps from your perspective?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, we were pretty well buried there, kind struggled throughout the race to keep runs going, and Chase got us up there, pushed us up there pretty far, and kind of stalled out again once we got kind of to the middle of the pack, and they all started wrecking on the bottom, and just kind of like Kyle said, it's "Days of Thunder," wide open on the top.
My point of view, I got T.J. telling me to use the run and get on his quarterpanel and didn't completely realize the 22 was out there all by himself. So just trying to better our position and get to second and try to use my run. You know, it's just racing. No worries either way. But just very thankful to be here with Hendrick Motorsports. It's been a lot of fun filling in, and really excited to see Dale Jr. get back in the car for the 500.

Q. Jimmie Johnson was having problems with Turn 4; why weren't you, and what were you doing right?
ALEX BOWMAN: I think we all kind of struggled. You set up for a night race, and then it becomes a day race, this place gets pretty slick. It's a lot narrower than Talladega and kind of just brings out some of the more‑‑ some of your handling flaws. Greg made great calls from on top of the box, got the car driving a lot better, and I thought after the first half of the race, after that last stop, we got our car driving a lot better and were able to hold onto it.

Q. Did either of you just kind of see what was developing in front of you? Could you predict it before the 11 and the 2 got together?
KYLE BUSCH: I don't think we could predict it, but certainly when the 2 and the 22 were together, they are fast. Everybody would say that about the Gibbs group, but it seemed like we got‑‑ we got torn apart. Denny was leading, Suarez, Matt, myself, I was the last one, and I was trying to look up at my mirror and kind of protect a little bit against the 2, who had the 22 with him, and tried to move up a little bit to keep some air from them, helping us, and from that point, it just seemed like he just got to my outside like nothing and pulled me off and then got to the next one of Matt and pulled Matt off. So he just kept going to the next guy with the 22 helping him. So those guys certainly have a ton of speed.
But it seemed like the Gibbs guys certainly had the camaraderie going, and we were trying to do what we needed to do to give ourselves an opportunity to have one of our cars win, and we didn't. We didn't score that.
I think with the 2 getting onto the inside of the 11, you can't tell how fast guys are coming behind you when they're coming up, so you know, the 11 just didn't know that he had that kind of a run and was there and turned down across his nose. That's the perspective that I pretty much think happened. I haven't seen it, obviously. But that's about it.
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, you know, it's kind of speedway racing. That stuff happens, right? Obviously I was further back than Kyle was, and especially in the laps leading up to that, so I didn't really see what completely developed it, but it's just day speedway racing. Stuff like that kind of happens.

Q. Alex, are you a little bittersweet coming out of the race today? What's your thought after finishing so well and going forward?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, it's definitely a little bittersweet, but at the same time, it's been such an honor to drive this 88 car for Mr.Hendrick and Dale Jr. It's been so much fun. I feel like this race team is kind of some of my best friends. It's definitely kind of like a bittersweet feeling. I don't really know what I have going forward, and I only know of one race for sure that I'm going to run, and it's not a Cup race this year.
Going forward, kind of don't know what's going to happen, but at the same time, it's really cool to see Dale feeling better and Dale coming back for the 500. He's definitely going to be my pick to be up front all day on Sunday.

Q. Kyle, now that you've been in the draft and competition out there on the track, any concerns for you going forward as you prepare for the Daytona 500? Are you comfortable with what your car was doing in this race? I know you had practiced in the 500 car yesterday.
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, no, I feel good. Everything as far as the 2018 Camry feels good. Feels like the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing have done a great job building some really fast speedway cars. We had the fast cars last year. I feel like we've got fast cars again this year thanks to JGR and Toyota. I'm looking forward to closing out this week today, I guess, and getting some qualifying laps in and seeing where we stack up in order to get ready for the Duels next week.

Q. Kyle, this is sort of along those same lines, but is there something to be said for running this race in the daytime as you're going to have the 500? Can you get a little something extra out of that?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, great point. I think it was certainly‑‑ every race we run during Speedweeks it's almost a test session for the next one. So having the opportunity to run this Shootout race was exactly what we were looking for, the Clash, sorry. Dale, sorry.
You know, it was certainly a little different, like Alex said. We all kind of planned for a night race and it turns into a day race, but honestly, I think it was better off being a day race. I thought the excitement of the race was the same as if it was going to be a night race. I thought having the opportunity to kind of prepare and get ready for the Duels, which then the Duels will be another set of more cars out there to race against, and that will get you prepared for then the full set of cars that you'll have on Sunday. Perfect scenarios that kind of led us to having this race during the day today.
If anybody is listening, I thought the race today was awesome. Definitely.
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, it was exciting from my point of view, as well.
KYLE BUSCH: I think we can cut a day out of the week if we want going forward, put this race on Sunday morning, and get people ready for qualifying in the afternoon. That's my vote. Y'all push for it. Okay, good.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thanks for putting on a great show today, and good luck.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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