NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – POLE SITTER
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“The car has been excellent all day and I just overdrove (Turn) 1 a little bit and didn’t really trust the car as much as I should have off of (Turn) 4. The car is a lot faster than that. But hopefully it will be a good qualifying run.”
THAT WAS A GOOD LAP:
“I think we could have done a few things different and had a better lap. I over drove the entrance to turn one a little bit and should have trusted the right rear a little bit more off of four. The car has been great all day so you have to give Steve (Letarte), Kevin (Meendering, engineer), and all the guys all the credit.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 STATE WATER HEATERS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
TRACK IS GETTING QUICKER?
“No, I just tried harder (laughs)”
OH, I’M SURE YOU DID. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT?
“Actually I was 118 percent that time. The State Water Heaters Chevrolet was good off the truck. The car is very similar; the track was actually very similar to how we practiced. I just kind of had to capitalize on everything. Obviously it wasn’t quite good enough, but it’s a good place to start here in Dover.”
YOUR EXPECTATIONS BEFORE THE LAP AND HOW THE LAP ACTUALLY TURNED OUT?
“Good and good. I thought we had a shot at it. I think during the last fifteen laps in practice the track got a good bit faster. We had the car basically how we unloaded it, other than one small change. The State Water Heaters Chevrolet SS was good and Matt (Borland) and the guys did a good job. Especially off the truck and we only made a small change all practice. Hopefully we will stay in the top five. The 20 and the 22 are going to be stout as well, but happy to be where we are at after 34 cars.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
YOU ARE JUST AHEAD OF KURT BUSCH RIGHT NOW. DO YOU THINK THERE’S ENOUGH FOR THE POLE HERE TODAY?
“We’ll see. It’s so early it’s hard to tell. And if you can outrun the No. 78 in Q-trim, you’re doing a good job. So, I feel that’s a good marker. Inside the car, it felt pretty good. (Turns) 1 and 2, I was off a little bit, but I really nailed (Turns) 3 and 4. We’ll just see. Hopefully it’s in the top three or four so we can get a nice pit stall on pit road. But it’s a good start for this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet.”
HOW WAS YOUR RACE CAR ON THAT LAP?
“Pretty good. I am real happy with our KOBALT Tools Chevrolet and it wasn’t so bad really. We will see how things go and I think from the temperature standpoint it’s going to be pretty equal through the field. So we stand a good chance of having our time hold up. There is a lot more rubber down from the Nationwide practice, and that is going to throw some guys a challenge. So I think we did a good job, and we’ll see if we can stay on top.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED NINTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“The track has changed a little bit and it just seems like it’s tougher to get the grip out of the front tires, but the rears are right on edge too. It was a decent lap, and I don’t think we will miss the top 10 with a lap like that but we will see where it stacks up and keep track of the changing track conditions. The track will continuously get darker and darker and get rubbered-in more and more so we will try and stay on top of it.”
YOU HAD AN EARLY DRAW, BUT THIS CLOUD COVER…..DID IT HELP?
“It helped us and we will see how it balances out throughout the session, but our Chevy is fast and we just need to keep up with the track conditions.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 12TH
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?
“It wasn’t bad. We were a touch too tight right there, but we had been edgy throughout the whole day and we improved on our practice time. A lot of guys are slowing down so I think that it will be a decent starting spot.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP?
“It was okay. We were a little too loose through the middle so I couldn’t get to the throttle the way I needed to, but it was okay. I wanted a little more, but sometimes here you try to get a little more and you end up screwing up. So for what we had, it’s pretty good.”
JEFF GORDON, AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 16TH
SOME DRIVERS WERE SAYING THE TRACK WAS A BIT DIFFERENT FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING. DID YOU FEEL THAT AT ALL?
“Well its felt a lot worse here in the past and the last time we were here the conditions changed dramatically. So things change a little bit, and you get cloud cover and I am hoping that sun comes out and saves us. It wasn’t our best lap and the balance just wasn’t quite there and we didn’t make a very good lap in my opinion.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 20TH
AFTER THE NATIONWIDE CARS HAVE BEEN OUT HERE, DOES THE TRACK FEEL THE SAME AS IT WAS IN PRACTICE?
‘I felt a little bit looser than what I had in practice earlier. I felt like the track was freer because tightened up and I was still pretty similar. So I don’t know; it’s hard to say how that will be. We beat a couple of cars that were in front of us, but I would think you’re going to need to go a little quicker than that if you’re going to qualify first today.”
HOW WAS YOUR LAP AND HAS THE RACE TRACK CHANGED FROM PRACTICE?
“We tightened our car up quite a bit and it still felt kind of similar to what it was. Maybe a little bit. Still seemed a little loose and it still seemed like an alright lap and we will see kind of where that goes. I don’t know. Not sure how it was.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 31ST
DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE TIME WAS LOST?
“Looking back at qualifying here, it doesn’t usually go faster. And on average, it was a tenth slower last time. So, I didn’t expect to go a lot faster but I also didn’t expect to go three-tenths slower. So, it was really loose and I can definitely attribute some of the time lost to being loose. There is a lot of rubber out there, but it feels slippery. And/or, we just freed it up too much for qualifying. I can’t blame the boys for trying, though. I might maybe be just fine for the race, but at this point in time we’re definitely disappointed that we went so much slower. But hopefully that’s a trend here.”
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