NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 23, 2013
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SEALY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SECOND
TALK ABOUT THAT LAP:
“Yeah pretty eventful. They had to fix all the damage that I gave the car through practice. Things get bent and things that you measure show straight and then when you get over to that big inspection rig with lasers and measuring calipers it really shows that you were wrong. It’s just a matter of trying to understand what is bent in the car. As long as we have tomorrow morning to go through it I think we will be fine just an eventful qualifying run. I’m sorry if I’m scatter brained and my interview sounds horrible, but thanks to these guys. To work as hard as they did on this car it’s one of those moments where everybody just had to roll up their sleeves, jump in and we smiled all the way through it going ‘hey it’s fun to do an old school thrash and then we got through it’.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
HOW HAS A SEASON SWEEP SOUND FOR YOU HERE AT BRISTOL?
“It sounds good. It’s not going to be easy I know that. The first one was tough and the track I feel is even tougher this time. Just kind of see what happens we are going to push pretty hard and see. We qualified alright. I feel like the car was close right there the guys did a good job. I wish I would have maybe got a little more aggressive with it. Fifth for now hopefully a top 10 it will be close to a top 10 we will see.”
YOU COME IN 11TH IN POINT’S BUT YOU’VE GOT THE TWO WINS CAN YOU KIND OF PIN YOUR EARS BACK AND JUST GO FOR WINS AT THIS POINT?
“No, I think you need to just really be… like we need to get in the top 10. We need to be consistent. We need to try and get another win. There are a couple of tracks that I feel like we can if things go our way and we play it right. I really feel like we just need to be really to me it’s like Chase time like we have to really focus on that and can’t just go for wins and just get out of control because something crazy could still happen and knock us out and even not starting with those bonus point’s would be bad also.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“I felt like I had a really good three and four on my lap, just my one and two was not exactly what I wanted. But man it’s fast here, touchy…..and the track seems rougher and has more character than it ever has. We will see how it ends up and I think it was a good run for our Quicken Loans Chevrolet.”
MARK MARTIN, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO GET THE SECURITY YOU WANT IN THIS TAKING OVER THE SEAT FOR TONY STEWART WHILE HE IS OUT WITH INJURY?
“I’ve just got to have some more time. I apologize to all these guys for working so hard to try to accommodate me. Being familiar with all this stuff may be a little over-rated; but to be real honest with you, I was quite challenged today and I don’t feel like I was able to rise to the challenge. I’m really proud of that qualifying lap. It’s better than I thought, but it’s still going to be mid-pack. But, we’re in one piece and we have learned so much. If we just had one more day before the race to work together a little bit, it would help us a ton. Kudos to Bass Pro Shops and Mobil 1 and everybody that works in this thing. And Tony Stewart, thanks, bud.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP:
“It was a little bit better than what I hoped for based on practice. I am pretty happy and I was extremely challenged by the newness and differences in the race car than what I have been driving. I haven’t been here in two years, and the race track ……because it’s been ground up top…..I haven’t been on that before, so the race team had to be patient and we lost a lot of time in practice in just getting to know each other.
“It’s going to be upper to mid pack starting spot. That is better than what I was hoping for at the end of practice and I am so proud of these guys and we will build strength and momentum going forward after we get this race under our belt and start marching forward. I just never got the confidence in the car and in the track like we need and over a period of time that will come.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“Yeah I mean you just have to be so committed. Stuff happens; I had an exciting (turn) three and four coming to the green. I had to turn around and take another shot at it. The first lap was still really tough, but my second lap was okay looks like top 15.”
RYAN TRUEX, NO. 51 SEAWATCH CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 18TH
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP:
“It was good. I under drove it a little bit and every driver says that, but I messed up one and two on my first lap. I think our first lap was better and I could have drove a little higher. There is so much grip up high right now. I got a little scared I guess….a little gun shy to get up near the wall. I got in the wall a little bit in practice in the end. So I was a little gun shy but proud of these guys and I think that will hold up for a solid starting spot.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 19TH
NOT EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR IN QUALIFYING CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR LAP?
“Yeah it was a little bit slower than we would like to go. The car was pretty good, I don’t know. It’s really tough to get ahold of this place. We haven’t qualified good here in a really long time.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE FOR TOMORROW NIGHT?
“Yeah I hope so. It’s just going to be very competitive race. It’s really… everybody runs the same speed. It’s just going to be whoever can be up front and get track position.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 22ND
ON HER QUALIFYING RUN:
“We had a pretty normal pick-up so that is good. That just means that we made nice good changes and the car felt pretty good out there. I know that qualifying is not my strong suit so I feel like over time we will keep getting better and better at it. What we need to do right now is just kind of be on the norm for the pick-up and just keep improving our practice times so that when we do pick up in qualifying we just keep moving up.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 42ND
ON HIS LAP:
“We’ve just been chasing it all day. In qualifying we were just way loose and I had to chase it up the hill and got in all the debris and that hurt us a lot. But we’ll get better. It’s just one of those days; a bad day. We will regroup. Tomorrow is a long night and we’ll find a way to make it work.”
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