NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HELUVA GOOD! SOUR CREAM DIPS 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
June 18, 2011
SEVEN TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS OCCUPY STARTING POSITIONS IN THE TOP FIFTEEN FOR SUNDAY’S HELUVA GOOD! SOUR CREAM DIPS 400
BROOKLYN, Mich. – (June 18, 2011) Regan Smith, No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, scored another top-five starting spot and was followed by Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, and Paul Menard, Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet, in the top ten. Stewart will start 6th while Menard will start 9th in Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway.
Four other Team Chevy drivers rounded out a solid top-fifteen group for the Bowtie Brigade. Landon Cassill, No. 51 Security Benefits/Thank A Teacher Today Chevrolet was 12th, Ryan Newman, No. 39 U.S. Army 236 Birthday/Bud Moore Tribute Chevrolet will roll off in 13th position, Jaime McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet will start 14th and rounding out the top fifteen will be Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet.
Kurt Busch (Dodge) won the pole position for Sunday’s race. David Reutimann (Toyota), Matt Kenseth (Ford) and Brian Vickers (Toyota) rounded out the top five starting positions.
Tune in to TNT to watch the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at 1:00 pm ET on Sunday, June 19th and listen on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT: GREAT QUALIFYING EFFORT. HOW IS YOUR CAR FOR THE RACE? “It was a good qualifying effort. We had some work to do yesterday after practice and second practice because I wasn’t very happy with the car. So half the battle is starting near the front so that is the good thing, and we are going to work on our Furniture Row Chevy overnight and make it faster tomorrow in race trim and hopefully we will have something we can contend with tomorrow.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 6TH: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ON SUNDAY? “We worked through a different package that we haven’t ran before and probably were a little bit behind there in the second (practice) session. I am really proud of Darian (Grubb) and all these guys on the Office Depot/Mobil 1 team. They did a great job with this Chevy. We got pretty close at the end of the session. Got a different direction and having to work through some things, but I think we have a car that is close enough that we can adjust it tomorrow during the race.”
DID YOUR SPEED HERE TODAY COMPARE TO WHAT YOU DID ON TUESDAY (DRIVING LEWIS HAMILTON’S F-1 CAR)? “It was a lot different on Tuesday for sure. But, glad to be back here at MIS, a place that we’ve always liked and had good luck here. It has been a cool week. I got to realize a dream driving an F1 car finally. It was an experience that I’ve never had before. It was cool but I’m glad to be back with the guys. It has been fun to tell everybody about it this weekend and talk about it with the other drivers about how that car drove versus what we drive every week.”
WHY DO YOU DO SO WELL AT MICHIGAN? “I don’t know. I think it is just one of those places. We haven’t won since 2000 here, so it has been a long time. We have just always been fairly solid it seems like. I like it, it is a driver’s track. You can move around and help yourself out. That is what we’ve always liked about it.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 PITTSBURGH PAINTS/MENARDS CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 9TH: ON HIS RUN: “Qualifying is so important that we have put some focus on it the last couple of weeks. Before Kansas we hadn’t qualified were we hoped to. We’ve had good cars. Kansas and Pocono we qualified well. Hopefully this holds up for a good spot. Just so important to have clean air and track position.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 US ARMY 236 BIRTHDAY/BUD MOORE TRIBUTE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 13TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT: “The way the qualifying, we will just see where this gets us a decent spot. We made some changes with the race car and it definitely felt a little bit better. Still have a lot of things to work on. I got everything I could out of the race car, considering when we went out. It was a little bit free. I am just very proud to represent the US Army have Bud Moore on the race car, that is really special. Bud Moore is a true American hero and he is a NASCAR legend at the same time. It is an honor to represent him and on the weekend of the birthday of the US Army.
WAS THE CAR STILL LOOSE RYAN? “It was a little bit free and the 24 was at least going to be a marker for us just based on the way we have to qualify. Just proud to represent the U.S. Army and Bud Moore this weekend. A true American hero with two bronze stars, four purple hearts and a NASCAR Champion on top of that. We are really proud to represent them and 236 years strong with the U.S. Army. I don’t know what that qualifying lap is going to do for us but we have been working on the car pretty hard here this weekend. And we will change some more things for tomorrow. So just look forward to the opportunity and its one of my favorite race tracks and it’s a first time Father’s Day for both of us, so we’ll see what we can do.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 14TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT: “I felt like we left a little bit out there still, but I am pleased with our qualifying effort. I feel like we had a good car yesterday in race trim during practice, so having a top-15 start will hopefully bode well for our team. We have had a string of bad luck the last few weeks, so this is a great place to get our McDonald’s Chevrolet back to where we know we are capable of running. I would really love to have a solid run here being so close to Chevrolet headquarters and give the hometown crowd something to cheer about.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT: “The car was pretty good. I think there is a little bit more in the car. Just under-drove the exit of two just a little bit and got a little bit loose in turn four which cost us maybe a tenth. The car is pretty good. Real happy. I was real happy with how the car was in practice yesterday all day. We should have a good time Sunday.”
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