NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 18, 2014
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
WAS THERE ANY STRATEGY BEING PLAYED OUT THERE DURING THAT RUN?
“There were a lot of strategies being put into use. Having to really come through and work out for you is just the toughest thing, because 20 some guys and a lady have an idea of what is going to work and timing that right and finding what works for you is impossible. Not impossible, just the odds very low. Hopefully it is entertaining. You don’t really feel like you are doing your part as a race car driver in a qualifying session like this, but it is plate racing and if it’s entertaining I guess I’m okay with it.”
WHAT IS THE VIBE AROUND THIS TEAM THIS WEEKEND?
“It’s easy here in Talladega. We know we will have a fast race car. We have a great pit crew. We have won on the plate tracks before, so we are having a good time. We are trying to let some pressure slide off of our shoulders if we can. Obviously Sunday is going to be a very pressure packed environment, but honestly in the position I’m in, in any Chase format I wouldn’t have a shot at a championship. So I actually have an opportunity I normally wouldn’t have going into this event. I hope that I can make the most of it. I hope I can capitalize on it and we can get this Lowe’s Chevy a victory and continue on with our dream of trying to win seven championships.”
HOW DOES A FRONT ROW STARTING SPOT IMPACT WHAT COULD HAPPEN HERE TOMORROW?
“It gives us a great pit stall pick which will help. It seems like there will be a lot of fuel only or two tire stops so that will give us a nice pit lane pick. Maintaining track position is hard to do here, there are comers and goers all day long, but what a weird qualifying session. There is no way around it. Confusion on multiple levels and I thought were completely out of the running and was able to suck back around on the guys and catch back up and get second, which I thought we were going to be 12th the way it all worked out. I don’t know what happened exactly, but it worked out and we got ourselves and second-place starting spot.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 SCOTT PRODUCTS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 3RD
ON THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT:
“I’m not sure if it’s exciting or really what it is. The whole goal is you just try to be the guy that times it right at the back so you get the big run. If you get the big run you are lucky. If you don’t you don’t. It’s really strange. It’s really about luck. You hope you get the right gap at the right time. In the first group I think I crossed the line with two seconds to go and everybody else behind me didn’t make it. It’s just strange. It’s a weird format. I’m not sure it’s any better than single car qualifying. It’s hard to say, but it is what it is. You’ve got to try to make your plan for what works out. I thought I had a shot at pole. Came to the line I thought it was the right amount of gap, but we kind of got held up as we went through two and allowed Brain (Vickers) to get a run on me and close the gap. Just try to avoid the big onetomorrow and hopefully we can get a good finish.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMER’S INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 8TH
ON THE QUALIFYING FORMAT:
“It’s just different. I don’t really know how to look at it. I think that was just really confusing and different. It wasn’t much like qualifying. It was more like some practice laps; really, for tomorrow.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 29TH
“At plate tracks, single-car qualifying is probably a better solution for us. They may have some other ideas and we may go through some other variations of different formats. But that was definitely unique. From my perspective, I don’t think any of the drivers really enjoy it that much, but there may be some that do.”
TELL US ABOUT WHAT THE STRATEGY WAS OUT THERE TO TRY TO PUT DOWN A GOOD LAP?
“We didn’t have one. We just pulled out on the track and ran a lap and that was the lap.”
HOW GOOD HAS THE RAE CAR BEEN PRACTICE?
“The car is good. We are just going to draft our way toward the front and we will just have a lot of fun on race day. There wasn’t much you could do there. Just kind of got to pull out there and run.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 31ST
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT AS A RACE CAR DRIVER TO BASICALLY SIT THERE AND WAIT KNOWING THAT YOU DIDN’T WANT TO BE THE FIRST ONE TO GO OUT?
“It teaches you that everything you learned as a driver growing up to the last person wanting to be the guy to beat. You don’t want to be last, you want to be up front running toward the front and trying to get to the front. This teaches you how to wait around and try to be the last guy. I don’t know. Disappointing our Dow Chevy is fast, but there are a lot of fast cars back there and we will make our way to the front on Sunday.”
ON THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT:
“I think it’s a joke. I think you are at the mercy of your group. I think we should just go back to single car qualifying. This ain’t going to work.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 32ND
DESCRIBE HOW IT WENT FOR YOU:
“Just kind of the same thing that you have heard everybody else say. You want to be the last guy in line or one of the last guys in line in your group to get that really big run. Everyone has the same mindset. It’s really hard to be in that position. I have struggled miserably at this qualifying format at plate races. I think 36th maybe is the best and cheated them out of a 32nd today because some of those guys didn’t make it back to the start/finish line. But our Cessna Chevy I thought was maybe the best plate car that I have ever had. We have been really successful at plate tracks. I’m glad that we made it through qualifying. Before qualifying starts I don’t think anyone cares where you start and then you get in the car to qualify and you want to be fast. When you are not it’s frustrating, but overall just have to have a solid day tomorrow. We are not in a point’s race, so we will race all day long. I heard some of those guys say they are going to run in the back and we are definitely not on that plan.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 39TH
ON THE QUALIFYING FORMAT
“This qualifying is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It just doesn’t work on the speedways. They all made a plan and told me to be the lead guy. I took off and no one took off with me. Then we all sat around and here we are.”
WHAT WAS YOUR STRATEGY AND WHAT IS YOUR TAKE OFF ON IT?
“I think the qualifying round really just doesn’t work on superspeedways for whatever reason. You have to be at the back, but all in all they told me to be the point person and nobody followed me. So appreciate everybody’s help.”
HOW IS THE RACE CAR FOR TOMORROW?
“It’s fine they all run really good. It will be fun.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 ENERGIZER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 42ND
ON HIS RUN:
“I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter I guess where you qualify. It’s just more funny than anything I guess that we didn’t even really get a lap. I don’t know they need to work on this qualifying. I think just go back to single car qualifying it would make it a lot simpler. That is not exciting at all I don’t think. Single car qualifying would be much better.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 43RD
WHAT WAS THE PLAN GOING INTO THAT QUALIFYING ATTEMPT?
“The plan was shot before the plan started. I messed up ultimately. I just mistimed getting to the line. The whole group was going so slow I knew I had to have a gap and when I came across the line I thought I had enough to be able to complete that lap and get one more, which was the only way we were going to be able to make it. But we came up short. It’s a mess out there. It’s not easy.”
IS SOME OF THAT JUST THE CONFUSION OF BEING A NEW FORMAT?
“Well what it is you don’t want to be the first car off pit road. If you are the first car off pit road more than likely you are not going to make it very far. It is all wanting to be at the back. We had a plan to work with some guys. I feel bad because I talked Kyle Larson into going with me and I messed him up. It was one of those things that I was just trying to time it and the way they were counting it down I thought we had enough time to get to the line. I just misjudged it. It’s something we will learn from each time and get better at. Timing is everything, not just in the lap time you make, but how you gap yourself and when you go. The pack ran so much slower than I anticipated that whole time that we were just caught too far behind.”
DID YOU LEARN SOMETHING FROM THE FIRST SESSION? HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“The interesting thing I learned from the first run was that I didn’t think they went very fast. I thought ‘man we are going to be able to smoke that number’. The pack just rolled off pit road and was waiting. You just don’t want to be the first one off pit road. So, we were so focused or I was on being further back to get that big run that I just didn’t make it back to the line in time to complete that last lap. The whole key was completing that last lap and by not completing that last lap we lost out. I made a mistake. My bad, timing is so crucial on this whole format. I just didn’t get it right.”
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