NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
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NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 13, 2014
CHEVROLET SS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR CONTENDER KYLE LARSON LEADS THE CHARGE FOR CHEVY AT NEW HAMPSHIRE
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Clinches Chase Position with 10th Place Finish
LOUDON, N.H. – July 13, 2014 – Team Chevy’s Kyle Larson was looking for his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, but fell just shy of claiming that win and had to settle for a third-place finish. The scheduled 301-lap race was extended to 305 laps when the caution flag waived on lap 298. This set up a green-white-checkered finish; and several drivers ran out of fuel, which jumbled-up the finishing order.
Larson and the No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS team put themselves in position to collect a top-five finish when they stayed out on old tires midway through the race, and caught an aptly timed caution flag. The Rookie of the Year contender never looked back and maintained the track position gained by his team. Larson now has four top-five finishes in 2014 and leads the Rookie of the Year standings over fellow Team Chevy driver Austin Dillon.
“It was a really good day for the Target Chevy team,” said Larson after climbing out of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet. “We ran up front all day long. We got to lead some laps there. Shine (crew chief Chris Heroy) made some bold calls on pit road to get us some track position and really paid off. It’s been a rough three weeks leading up to now. Just have to get back up there in the points. We were really good and then we had two DNF’s and then a bad race at Sonoma. Just got to get back to how we have been doing and that is consistent; all in all a really good day.”
Ryan Newman, a three-time New Hampshire winner, was able to place his No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS in the fifth position when the checkered flag fell by capitalizing on the final green-white-checkered restart. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS, quietly earned a seventh-place finish.
However, when the race ended, all eyes turned to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He and race winner Brad Keselowski (Ford) are now the only two drivers who have officially clinched berths in the 2014 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Although the 10th place finish at NHMS was not what the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS was looking for, the solid effort locked NASCAR’s most popular driver into the upcoming 10-race Chase.
“You could say it (clinching a spot in the Chase) was an afterthought, but we worked hard to get to where we are to be able to run as well as we have and win some races,” said Earnhardt, Jr. “It feels great. It’s an accomplishment. I’m proud of our team for that. Hopefully we can improve though before we come back here. This is an important race track so we need to run better than this and I know we will work hard to figure that out.”
Series point leader Jeff Gordon rebounded from two laps down to running in the second position when the final yellow flag waived. Gordon and the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS team were in a position to potentially end the day in Victory Lane, until he ran out of fuel coming to the green-flag, which relegated the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion to a 26th-place finish. Gordon remains the series point leader by 12 markers over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Earnhardt, Jr.
Brad Keselowski (Ford) was the race winner, Kyle Busch (Toyota) was second and Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was fourth to round out the top five finishers.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will return to action in two weeks at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 21st running of the Brickyard 400.
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD
TOP ROOKIE OF THE YEAR CONTENDER
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
TOM BRYANT: We’re joined now by our third‑place finisher and the highest‑finishing rookie in today’s race, Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet. Tell us about your run today, Kyle.
KYLE LARSON: Yeah, it was a good day. We had some eventful parts with pit strategy and stuff. Made some pretty ballsy calls to get me in the lead and then, surprised me we stayed out front because we had a lot of laps on our tires at that point and was worried about getting eaten up on that restart but was able to beat Kyle and lead a handful of laps. Kind of maintained our track position from then on. We had a really good car I thought, definitely a top‑10, top‑eight car and then everything kind of worked out that last restart for me to line up sixth, which I thought was a really good spot to be in. I got lucky with Jeff running out of fuel so I could line up sixth, because if I would’ve been on the inside, I probably would’ve gone backwards. So it all worked out and got a top‑three finish today. Have to keep these good runs going after our bad three weeks we’ve had in a row now. Really happy about how today went, and have an off weekend and get back going again somewhere else. I don’t know where we’re at next.
Q. Kyle, you had those three bad runs. What does this do for the 42 team and yourself?
KYLE LARSON: Yeah, you know, it’s a shame we’ve had those three bad runs because we’ve been a really good car, we’ve just had a lot of bad luck, power steering issues at Sonoma, right front at Kentucky and then typical Daytona. Yeah, I mean, we were up to tied for seventh in points before Sonoma and fell back to 18th. It really had us scratch our heads and praying to get some good finishes again, and now hopefully we’ve turned it around and can start getting some consistent finishes again.
Q. Was Morgan Shepherd in your way at all today? He was 15 laps down. He took out Joey Logano when he was running second.
KYLE LARSON: I never had a problem with him, but I felt really bad for Joey. I didn’t see what happened, but I figured when they were both tore up he had to have gotten into him. It’s a shame. He’s just out there trying to have some fun just like we all are. I don’t know.
Q. How much of an advantage was it for you to have that track position and clean air as opposed to 10th on back with a good car but with dirty air?
KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I noticed when we made that call to get in the lead, I noticed clean air was a decent help, not as much as other racetracks because we aren’t carrying as much speed, but when I was back in traffic I thought I was a little bit looser off the corners than I was when I was in the lead. Yeah, I mean, clean air helps anywhere you’re at, whether it’s Martinsville or Daytona.
Q. It seems like you and Kyle Busch have put on some good shows for racing for position. Would it be safe to say that you guys have a nice little rivalry going on right now?
KYLE LARSON: I wouldn’t say it’s a rivalry. We just somehow are always finishing by each other. It seems like I’m usually one spot behind him (laughing), but it’ll change soon. It’ll change soon.
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