XFINITY teams show strong effort in the Valley of the Sun
Austin Dillon Battles Tight-Handling Conditions En Route to Seventh-Place Finish in the Desert
The Ruud Chevrolet was tight all day. We fought tight on exit for the majority of the race. The No. 2 team had good pit stops and put us third on the final restart, but we had to come back to pit road with 25 laps to go to get a set of fresh tires. Danny (Stockman, crew chief) and the boys didn't give up. We ended the day with a top-10 finish, but we have some work to do. We'll get it figured out and get back to victory lane this season.
– Austin Dillon
Dillon Records Third Consecutive Top-10 Finish
Today was an overall great day. We executed on all levels, made no mistakes and came home with a top-10 finish. We showed a lot of speed all weekend and were able to qualify well and race up front for a majority of the race. We even got to lead a few laps and show that we are capable of doing so. I was happy with our overall strategy from Nick (Harrison, crew chief) and Danny (Efland, engineer). We still have a lot of work to do as a company to get on the level of competition I know we are capable of being on. I'm looking forward to the last leg of the NASCAR Goes West trip."
– Ty Dillon
Brandon Jones Earns 11th-Place Despite an Up and Down Day at Phoenix
It was an up and down kind of day for the No. 33 E-Z-Go Chevrolet team. We ran inside the top-10 for most of the day but on that last pit stop, we just got a little too far away from what the car needed. The No. 33 pit crew had a lot of great stops, and Mike (Hillman Jr., crew chief) made awesome calls to keep us in the top 10. I think the biggest thing is getting the car to turn better. If we can make that happen, we'll definitely be able to contend for wins. It's nice to leave Phoenix (International Raceway) with a solid finish. I haven't had the best of luck here in previous years. Overall, it was a decent day for us."
– Brandon Jones
Brendan Gaughan Finishes 13th After Battling Handling Issues
??The team had a good day on pit road, but we couldn't get the handling quite right during the race. We fought tight conditions in the middle and loose off through the turns. That's the toughest condition in racing to fix. Shane (Wilson, crew chief) and the guys did everything we could to correct the car and gain in those 200 miles. The No. 62 team has had a couple of races in a row that didn't quite go the way we wanted. We will re-group and finish off the west coast swing in California, a track that has always been really good for us.
– Brendan Gaughan
