NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES – SYLVANIA 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 19, 2014
MCMURRAY LEADS TEAM CHEVY IN QUALIFYING AT NEW HAMPSHIRE
SIX CHEVROLET SS RACE CARS TO START SYLVANIA 300 IN TOP 12
LOUDON, N.H. – September 19, 2014 – In the final round of qualifying for Sunday’s Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Jamie McMurray turned a quick lap of 27.121 seconds, 140.437 mph to claim the second-place starting position in his No. 1 Belkin/WEMO Chevrolet SS.
It marked his 11th top-10 start of the 2014 season, and his fifth in 24 races at the 1.058-mile oval known as the ‘Magic Mile’.
Kevin Harvick was close behind McMurray, turning a lap of 27.193 seconds, 140.065 mph in his No. 4 Budweiser Designate a Driver Chevrolet SS, and will start third in the 43-car field. It will be Harvick’s 11th top-10 start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and his 19th in 28 races thus far this season.
Other Team Chevy drivers who qualified in the final qualifying round of 12 for the 300-mile race are as follows: Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS will start sixth, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS will start ninth, Kyle Larson will start 10th in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the 11th position in his No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS.
Brad Keselowski (Ford) was the pole winner, Denny Hamlin (Toyota) qualified fourth, and Kyle Busch (Toyota) qualified fifth to round out the top-five starters.
The field is set for the second round of the final 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, in which Team Chevy currently has eight contenders. They qualified as follows:
Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser Designate a Driver Chevrolet SS = 3rd
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS = 6th
Ryan Newman, No. 31 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS = 9th
Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS = 11th
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS = 13th
Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS = 15th
Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet SS = 17th
AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Bush’s Beans Chevrolet SS = 27th
The 300-lap/317.4 mile Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is scheduled to begin Sunday September 21st at 2:00 p.m. ET. Live coverage will be available on ESPN, PRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BELKIN/WEMO CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER DESIGNATE A DRIVER CHEVROLET SS – 3RD
WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND?
JAMIE MCMURRAY: “We unloaded today similar set-up to what we ran the first race. We qualified pretty well the first race, raced well and thought we were one of the, maybe the best car in race trim. The No. 4 car was maybe a little bit better, but overall good in race trim. Then we switched over to qualifying trim, second in the practice, so it’s been a good weekend. This is one of those tracks that if you show up on Friday and you are struggling it’s almost impossible to get your car competitive. On the flip side if you show up with a quick car it typically stays fast all weekend. We brought a fast car, a brand new car this weekend, first race and Keith (Rodden, crew chief) has done a really good job again and qualified second. The pit selection here is also a big deal getting blocked in because you do a lot of two tires. The fact that we qualified well, you get to have that opening leaving is going to be really valuable especially if you are running up front.”
DID YOU GET EVERYTHING OUT OF THE LAP OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE WAS SOMEWHERE ON THE TRACK THAT YOU LEFT SOMETHING?
JAMIE MCMURRAY: “No I felt like my first run that I didn’t get everything out of the car, maybe left a little bit on the table. We watched this dart fish where you can kind of compare your lap to other guys. In practice I was second and looked at a couple of other guys and thought I found some area that I could make my car better in. It’s hard to do that the first time by on the track. The first run I didn’t feel like I got it all. But the second run out the second lap was really good. I came off turn four and I tried to run three laps and tried to just drive even a little bit harder, but the tires just wouldn’t hold up for another quick lap. When they told me the lap times like a 27.12 (seconds) I didn’t think anybody was going to beat that because we could only run like a 27.28 the first run out. Then I saw Denny (Hamlin) only ran like a 27.25. I’m like ‘that is going to be a tough lap to beat’. Brad (Keselowski) obviously just barely beat us.”
DO YOU WISH THAT CHIP GANASSI RACING WOULD HAVE BEEN RUNNING LIKE THIS EARLIER IN THE SEASON? YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATE SEEM TO BE RIGHT ON THE CUSP OF A WIN. IS IT JUST A MATTER OF TIME?
JAMIE MCMURRAY: “We definitely like Bristol, Chicago have been probably – Sonoma – have been some of my best races this year. I don’t really feel like we are faster now than what we were at the beginning of the season. I feel like the speed has been there all year. Certainly have had some tire issues and some things kind of out of your control that happened that put us way back. We won the All-Star race earlier in the season, so we have had speed all year long. It’s just the last few weeks you have been able to put it all together. We still struggle a little bit I feel like at the end of the races. At Chicago our car was super-fast as the track rubbered up at Chicago and at Bristol we just couldn’t get the car freed up enough. It just would get too tight. I don’t know I feel like we have had speed all year long and just been able to kind of put more of the race together the last month or so.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK FOR SUNDAY’S RACE:
KEVIN HARVICK: “Just need to keep doing the things that we are doing. The cars are fast and we are putting ourselves in position as we get towards the end of these races and feel like hadn’t all worked out. Last week the No. 42 was a little bit better at the end of the race, but still in the mix as we get towards the end. That is just in my opinion what we need to do. We need to keep being consistent and keep leading laps and keep putting yourself in position to win. It will eventually just come and make up for the ones that you lost. It’s just going good and got to keep it that way.”
IS IT MORE IMPORTANT NOW JUST TO ADVANCE AND BE CONSISTENT OR IS IT TIME TO GO ALL OUT FOR WINS RIGHT NOW?
KEVIN HARVICK: “I think the whole winning thing is really overrated. Obviously you want to win. You want to win every week and you show up to try to win, but you can’t take any unnecessary chances and that is kind of the box that the point system puts you in. It’s good and bad. It’s like last week you are racing for the win. I felt like the No. 42 was faster and obviously drove by us and then as we got to the end you are kind of in a pretty vulnerable spot and you don’t want to turn a top five finish into a 25th place finish because the risk versus reward is not there, especially in the first round. If you are in desperation mode and you are in the third round of one of the rounds and outside looking in then the circumstances change. It’s all very circumstantial as far as what you need to do. I feel like that goal changes on a weekly basis and you have to adjust to that as you go and how much risk versus reward that is there for you.”
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