What drivers said after Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Here is what drivers had to say after Sunday night's Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Chase Elliott — Winner: "I know it's not a points race, but it is nice to win, for sure. Just really proud of our team for just continuing to keep our heads down and push forward, for sure.

"Had a tough race. Ryan (Blaney) kept me honest there at the end. Denny (Hamlin) was really good at the second half of that break. I just felt like he was kind of riding, and I was afraid to lose control of the race and not be able to get it back. Yeah, fortunately it worked out. Great way to start the season.

"… Honestly, felt like there at the end of the first hundred that Denny and Tyler (Reddick) had gotten better than us, and we needed to be a good bit improved to track those guys back down. Was kind of afraid if we lost control, it was going to be hard to get it back. (Crew chief Alan Gustafson) made some good adjustments there at the break. We were able to get back to second. I felt like I needed to take my shot and try to get the lead. If it worked out, great. If Denny got me back, then so be it. I just felt like my best chance to win was to try to get control of the race in that moment. Took that opportunity and was fortunate enough to kind of have the race play out in our favor. Certainly Ryan kept us honest there at the end, too."

Ryan Blaney — Finished 2nd: "That was fun. That was a blast. The car was really good, especially the first half and the second half. Being able to get to second, then race hard with Chase there, who's going to save more tire. I just didn't quite have enough right rear at the end to make a move on him. … That's a fun time. I hope the fans enjoyed it. That was a really good show. Happy we could come to Bowman Gray and put on a great race for everybody.

Denny Hamlin — Finished 3rd: "I just didn't do very well on that restart there, and kind of lost the bottom and Chase (Elliott) took advantage of it. Once you get the lead, it is a lot easier to hang on to it. I thought that they were just a little better that second half than we were, along with the 12 (Ryan Blaney) was as well. We just have to get a little bit better, but overall, a good day for our Sport Clips Toyota."

Bubba Wallace — Finished 5th: "I hate that I got into the 6 (Brad Keselowski). I didn't want to get a top-five finish that way. He was doing everything he could to get down – and I got greedy and wanted to fill the hole. I really didn't think I hit him that hard, but obviously I did, so apologize for that. A good day – I wish I had the hard charger award. The 12 (Ryan Blaney) beat me for that. I looked in the mirror, before the break, and he is two back and I'm like, he's fast. But all-in-all, a good day for our Leidos Toyota Camry. We start off the season with a top-five. Does that count? We will count it. All-in-all, a good day – we were still missing it on something. This tire was also from Martinsville in the fall. I didn't like the car then. I don't like the car now, but you have to fight for it. I need to look back on what I need to do better with this tire. I think it is more me than the car – just getting the potential, but all-in-all, it was a fun night. Crowd was loud and proud, and it was a good time."

Ross Chastain — Finished 6th: "Well we were in the race, but we weren't up front. For us to lead the way with a sixth-place finish was our strongest showing of the weekend and we ended the best that we were all weekend, so that's promising. But we need more speed. We were proud last night driving home that we locked-in all three cars, but we want to do it up front."

Austin Cindric — Finished 7th: "I thought we did a good job of making our Freightliner Ford Mustang Dark Horse better from Saturday night and even from the first 100 laps to the second 100 laps. I can't really complain. I thought we had speed to race in the top five. We made a lot of passes under green on that long run and felt like we had a reasonable car and kept the tires under it. These quarter mile events have been a struggle for me the last four years, so it's really good progress and a solid showing to start the season for the 2 car."

Tyler Reddick — Finished 8th: "After we had all those restarts up top there and we finally got going, my car, the handling was just not quite the same. It got really, really tight. It just put me in a bad spot there. Really slow and not pointed where I needed to be and people were able to get to my bumper. … It never really recovered to where it was in the first half of the race, unfortunately."

Shane van Gisbergen — Finished 9th: "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I think I still put myself in bad spots and got moved out of the way. And then, I didn't know how to get back down without making people mad. But yeah, I had a lot of fun."

Chris Buescher — Finished 10th: "We put ourselves in a good position there at the start of the race by winning our heat yesterday, and overall, I thought the car was solid. I'm really proud of our guys and their effort, and we'll look to carry this momentum into Daytona weekend."

Ryan Preece — Finished 11th: "We made gains on the break. I think we were running 20th and struggling to be there, and made good adjustments and got ourselves back to 11th. We didn't really have any other opportunities to go forward, so at the end of the day I'm happy with positive changes and just ready to move forward to the Duels (at Daytona) and the big show."

Josh Berry — Finished 13th: "It was a lot of fun. I thought the guys did a really good job making the car better and adjusting on it from practice and the heat races to give me a really good car for the feature. Honestly, I felt like we had some more potential there if things would have went a little different, but, overall, I'm really happy with it. Obviously, the goal is to come here and make the race, so to do that and get a decent finish in our first time out it was a lot of fun."

Brad Keselowski — Finished 21st: "We showed a lot of potential early on, but we got spun there with 75 to go and really never had a chance to recover. We were solid. Just a fifth-to-10th-place car the whole day. We tried to get a little bit more but overall, a good debut outing for a team that's had a lot of changes."

Daniel Suarez — Finished 22nd: It was a little tricky tonight for the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevy team. I thought we were going to have a little more speed. We were decent in the short run, but not too good in the long run, which was the opposite of how I thought we were going to be. Overall, it was a good event."