What drivers said at Atlanta during crash-filled Cup race
Josh Berry — 30th: "I have no idea really what happened. It looked like they were just pushing each other hard for 8th, 10th, 12th like that and got squirrely. It's just disappointing getting taken out and having that happen with this many laps left. It's tough, but (Team Penske) had the four fastest cars yesterday. We were doing our best to fend off all the battles and work with each other at the beginning. Everyone on our 21 team and everybody at Team Penske have a lot to be proud of for how yesterday and the start of the race went. Unfortunately, we just got swept up in somebody else's mess.'
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Chase Briscoe — 34th: "We were about ready to go. I guess NASCAR came over there and saw our chassis was bent or broke, so they're like, 'Yeah, you guys can't go back out.' So kind of wasted 30 minutes working on it. Just unfortunate. The No. 19 Toyota missed the balance at the beginning and put us behind, and obviously, that big wreck, there was just nowhere to go. Looking forward to two road courses coming up and hopefully a JGR or Toyota car can win. Just an unfortunate day for us."
Joey Logano — 35th: "I was in the middle of it, so I haven't seen a replay yet to know what happened. Cars are sideways, and you get in the brakes, and everyone is just running into each other. Just a speedway wreck, especially with everyone so tight on the restart. Wrong place at the wrong time. We tried to win the stage and unfortunately didn't' get that done, and then you have to pay the piper and go to the back. It's unfortunate that it happens. The Penske cars were so strong, so fast. It's part of the game sometimes. Sometimes you're the ball, sometimes you're the bat. Today we're the ball."
Austin Cindric — 37th: 'A lot of cars wrecking in the middle of the straightaway, which here you kind of more expect it in the middle of the corners, but maybe just a push gone wrong. It's hard to say. I had a small chance to get through a gap there, but obviously it didn't work out. It's a shame. Obviously, we had a super fast Ford Mustang. We wanted to keep the thing out front. I was looking forward to it because we got back in traffic with staying out to win the stage, but I was looking forward to see what our car was gonna do in dirty air and see what final adjustments we needed to make and have that opportunity to learn there. It's just a shame and a shame for everybody at Team Penske bringing such fast cars and all of them wreck out.' I'm a big believer in the law of averages and we've reset after Talladega and here we are.'
Corey LaJoie —- 38th: "Saw a little smoke and then it was my hood on my windshield, unfortunately. We were getting it going, and I felt like the car was good right until the point of impact, unfortunately. Man, we had run so good here in the past, and I thought our car was really, too. Track position is so important. Who knows how the night could have gone. That's the risk you take just jamming it in there and being aggressive on restarts. I really appreciate Rick and everybody on that 01 team. I don't know when I'll be doing it again, hopefully in a couple of weeks. This is still the best seat in the house. The TV stuff was good, but driving these things at 200 mph is pretty badass. I don't know why we see guys pushing like dummies early down the backstretch. I don't know what we're doing. We just started the stage. I don't know why we're pushing like we're damn bumper cars at Frankie's Fun Park, but that's not to be surprised. I think there are a lot of guys who don't make wise decisions driving these things on speedways. Unfortunately, we were right smack in the middle of it."
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Ryan Blaney — 40th: "I couldn't see much. As soon as they started spinning and coming down, I tried to get to the apron and finally got there and got blocked. Story of our year: Getting caught up in other people's garbage. As soon as I feel like we get it going pretty good and find some momentum, we never really seem to have things going our way. Tried to flip the stage and was right in the middle of it. Stinks and that's the way it goes sometimes. We'll be back and go at it in Chicago next week. I definitely thought we could improve (the car) in dirty air, but I was excited to work through it during the night and never got the chance."
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