NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA 400
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
Kevin Harvick Puts Team Chevy on the Pole at Dover
Championship Contender Claims No. 1 Starting Spot for Seventh Time in 2014
DOVER, DE – September 26, 2014 – Kevin Harvick continued to add to his NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying career by capturing his seventh pole position of the 2014 season in his No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS. He ran a fast lap of 22.095 seconds, 162.933 mph and will lead the field to the green in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
“It’s been an amazing year for everybody on our Budweiser Stewart-Haas racing team,” said Harvick. “They just do a great job in preparing the race cars and put a lot of effort into qualifying and it’s translated into a lot of good finishes. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. Track position is huge here, especially at the beginning of the race. I’ve never been in that stall, so I guess it’s going to be okay on that end of pit road. But all in all, I’m just really proud of all my guys. They’ve done a great job all year, but particularly over the last month and just getting consistent cars, finishing races, and doing what we have to do to get those solid runs.”
Jamie McMurray and his No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS team continued their recent success with another top five starting position. McMurray turned in the fifth fastest time this week after a front row start last week in New Hampshire. It marked his 12th top-10 start of the 2014 season.
Chase contender Jeff Gordon qualified in the sixth position in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS while McMurray’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate and Rookie of the Year contender, Kyle Larson, posted the seventh fastest time in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS. It is the fifth straight top ten start for Larson.
Six-time NSCS Champion Jimmie Johnson will start eighth in his No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet SS and another rookie contender, Austin Dillon, qualified 10th in his Dow Chevrolet SS. Six Chevrolet SS race cars earned top 10 starting positions in the 43-car field.
Kyle Busch (Toyota) qualified second, Denny Hamlin (Toyota) was third, and Brad Keselowski (Ford) qualified fourth to round out the top-five starters.
The field is set for the third 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 Chevrolet SS = 1st
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS = 6th
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet SS = 7th
Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet SS = 12th
Ryan Newman, No. 31 Quicken Loans Design A Scheme Chevrolet SS = 20th
Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS = 22nd
Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS = 25th
AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Hungry Jack/ACME Chevrolet SS = 28th
The 400-lap/400 mile AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway is scheduled to begin Sunday September 28th at 2:00 p.m. ET. Live coverage will be available on ESPN, MRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN OUT THERE TODAY AND YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE RACE ON SUNDAY:
“Just really proud of my guys. Obviously there is a lot going on with the Chase and everything that we are racing for and they just keep bringing fast race cars to the race track. Qualifying went well. I thought race trim practice went well. We just have to keep doing what we are doing and hopefully tomorrow we can evolve a little bit more. I feel like we have a much better foundation when we unloaded set-up wise here today and it just evolved quicker on each run in practice when you unload well. It’s a lot of fun.”
YOU HAVE HAD SEVERAL GOOD RUNS HERE, BUT HAVEN’T WON. CIRCUMSTANCES? OR THE TRACK IS A PROBLEM FOR YOU? HOW DO YOU SEE IT?
“This used to be a huge hurdle for us. The last race we were leading and a lugnut got behind the center of the wheel and knocked the inner liner valve stem out of it leading the race. You would classify that one as dumb luck, but we have had some bad days here. It’s been a long time I would say ’05 in that area was not pretty, but over the last few years this has been a good race track for us. It has been a lot more enjoyable and fun to drive.”
CONSIDERING WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS HOW RELAXED IS YOUR GROUP? I’M NOT SURE IF YOU HAVE BEEN AROUND THE NO. 41 AT ALL BUT CAN YOU TELL IF THE PRESSURE AT ALL WEIGHS ON THEM?
“Yeah, I can’t speak for them, but I know that there is a lot of pressure every week and all we have talked about leading up to the Chase for a couple of weeks and over the past two week is just advancing. It doesn’t matter when you get to Homestead what the stat sheet looks like you just know that you have to somehow figure out how to do better than most everybody else and get yourself in position to race at Homestead. The first goal was Chicago. The second goal was Loudon this is just another box to check and then it all starts over again next week when we get to Kansas. I think you have to be aggressive to be just competitive first off so you can’t just sit on your hands and not race hard. For us we really haven’t talked about what we are or aren’t going to do it’s just kind of been the same plan all along. Go out and try to be the fastest in practice, fastest in qualifying and hopefully have a chance to win the race.”
ARE YOU GETTING FRUSTRATED AT ALL WITH CIRCUMSTANCES THAT ARE KEEPING YOU OUT OF VICTORY LANE?
“Not at all. I’ve been around this deal way too long to complain about top-five finishes. There are a lot of circumstances that go into winning races at a lot of these places. You just have to keep knocking on that door and then you will win some that you shouldn’t win. A lot of times you don’t win the ones that you think you should have won and win the ones that you don’t think you should have won. You just keep finishing top five, top three and everything else will fall into place.”
CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE ATMOSPHERE AROUND THE TEAM SINCE WEDNESDAY? HAS THERE BEEN A BIG SENSE OF RELIEF?
“I think for me personally, I can’t speak on behalf of the team, but for me personally, yes. Obviously you worry about your friend and the circumstances that are surrounding him and how things could be dictated for the rest of his life. Just being around and knowing how much it has weighed on him and all the things that he has going on, for me personally I’m happy for my friend. As far as the team we have all got jobs to do and have had to press through them, but I’m overjoyed in obviously a devastating situation, but I’m just happy that it is to a point where everybody knows what is happening in the future and can start the process of trying to deal with it and move on into some sort of normalcy.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 7TH – TOP ROOKIE OF THE YEAR QUALIFIER
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN OUT THERE TODAY AND YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE RACE ON SUNDAY:
“I was hoping for a little bit more in qualifying out of the Target Chevy. We were pretty tight I thought through (turns) one and two which is where we gave up most of our time in our mock runs in practice. I’m sure it was the same in qualifying. [Turns] three and four I thought I got through that corner pretty good, just gave up a lot in (turns) one and two. But seventh is still not bad. We can get a good pit stall from there and hopefully have a good race on Sunday. In race trim I thought we were decent. Still have a lot more practice to go so hopefully we get the car even better and we can have a good run this weekend.”
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