NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
WINDOWS 10 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 31, 2015
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S/BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED – 2ND
DESCRIBE THE LAP THAT ALMOST PUT THE NO. 4 ON THE POLE:
“Just really proud of everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Budweiser team for running our fastest lap in the last session. A lot of that lies on me for putting the lap together something I hadn’t done over the last couple of months. I feel like we all did a good job there and made some good adjustments. I feel like I probably gave up a little bit in Turn 1. I got a little bit tight in the center of that corner, but all-in-all it was a good lap and I’m glad we ran our fastest speed in the last round. That is what you have to do.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED – 4TH
DID YOU GET EVERYTHING OUT OF THE NO. 3 CAR OR DID YOU LEAVE A LITTLE OUT THERE?
“I felt like we got most of it out of there. We had to run twice in the second round and it was tough to call. We were probably going to make it on our first lap, but I got loose into (Turn) 1 and that just kind of prolonged our third run. I’m proud of the guys though. It is a great qualifying effort, probably our best of the year so far for our American Ethanol Chevy. I want to thank Dow and everybody that helps us out each and every weekend. It’s been fun. That is our seventh race with Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) and we are getting better each week.”
HOW BIG OF AN ADVANTAGE IS IT TO BE STARTING UP FRONT HERE AT POCONO?
“It means a ton, but the biggest thing is being able to stay up there. We’ve got to make our car good for tomorrow in race trim. If we do that we will have the prim position to start up there and have a shot to win.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 RUSH TRUCK CENTERS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 5TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“Not bad. Chad Johnston came over in between the practice session and qualifying and showed me some stuff where I was losing some time. That is what we focused on for qualifying and it worked.”
HOW GOOD WAS THAT CAR OUT THERE TODAY?
“Chad Johnston (crew chief) came over between practice and qualifying and we went over the data and he showed me where we were losing speed. The Rush Truck Centers Chevy has been good all day. It’s been solid. I just needed to work on a couple of things to make my qualifying run better.”
HOW CLOSE DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE GETTING TO NOT ONLY QUALIFYING WELL, BUT GETTING BACK TO VICTORY LANE?
“Well, I don’t know that just two weeks in a row of qualifying justifies that discussion. I mean we didn’t finish very good last week at Indy. I would say we will reserve judgement on that for a couple more weeks.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 6TH
ON QUALIFYING:
“I thought it was a good effort. We gained speed each run and improved the car. I thought that I drove the proper lap, we just got beat. Quick lap time in the 40’s is tough to beat. We ran in the 60’s. You can say there is a little bit here, a little bit there, but overall pleased with how we unloaded and we will see what we have in race trim tomorrow. The conditions are warmer this time around so everything is a little slower right now.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/VISSER PRECISION CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
WHAT WAS YOUR CAR DOING IN THAT SESSION?
“We really struggled for whatever reason in Turn 1 today. Just can’t seem to get the balance right. We were either too tight or too loose no matter what we do. Fought the same thing there, not a big deal though I think we will be okay. We’ve got plenty of time to figure it out tomorrow. We’ve got a few cars to pass, but 13th is not too bad. We did it last week.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 MICROSOFT CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 15TH
WHAT WERE YOU DEALING WITH?
“Loose in. We got a chance to re-run there in that session. I thought I would back all the corners up to see if we could get a better run and get in the gas sooner. But getting into (Turn) 1 it just got loose and backed into the corner and I had to chase it up the racetrack. First run we made in the second session we did the same thing. Loose into (Turn) 1 up the racetrack, running around there half throttle, everybody else is on the bottom digging, loose into the Tunnel (Turn). We just missed it a little bit and that is the difference between 15th and making that last round.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 AQUAFINA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 16TH
YOU GUYS WORKED REALLY HARD ON THE CAR AND MADE A LOT OF IMPROVEMENTS. 16TH IS NOT TOO BAD:
“Yeah, it’s much better than where we were in practice. We made nice gains with our Aquafina Chevrolet and gained a lot of speed, but not quite enough. We just didn’t quite get where we wanted to be. Tried another run right there at the end and was a little bit tighter, so that didn’t work. But hopefully tomorrow we will put together a strong day and build a nice package for Sunday.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 SUAVE MEN CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 27TH
YOU WERE 16TH IN PRACTICE. WHERE DID THE SPEED GO?
“I don’t know. In practice we were on the splitter really bad into (Turn) 1. So I was tight getting down into (Turn) 1 and then tight exiting (Turn) 1 and (Turn) 3. That time we weren’t on the splitter into (Turn) 1, so I was really loose in (Turn) 1. I got through the Tunnel (Turn) okay and then (Turn) 3 was loose as well. Just backwards from what I was in practice. Just too loose to put the power down and just long straightaways so you need to get the throttle down as soon as you can. Extremely disappointed, we are normally really fast here. We didn’t qualify very good the last Pocono race and raced alright. I am sure we will be fine come Sunday, but definitely disappointed. We are going to work hard to get some grip back in our racecar. The track has definitely been slicker than what I’ve experienced here before. When we got out here for practice today the track was really white. Absolutely no rubber and it was slick there, still slick. I’m sure with all the rest of practice and the Truck race and stuff the track should get rubbered in and we will hopefully get better that way. Definitely disappointed.”
Connect with Team Chevy on social media. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TeamChevy, follow us on Twitter @TeamChevy, and add +TeamChevy into your Google+ circles.
Team Chevy racing photos are available at:
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 115 countries and selling around 4.8 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
