NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
WINDOWS 10 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES
AUGUST 2, 2015
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AARP MEMBER ADVANTAGES CHEVROLET SS – Finished 3rd
THIS IS YOUR 32ND TOP 10 AT POCONO AND THIS MIGHT BE THE CRAZIEST EVER. TELL US ABOUT THE END OF THIS RACE
“Well, it would be a long, long list if we talked to a bunch of people in the grandstands and myself, and everybody on pit road and probably people watching at home to find out who was more surprised. That was crazy. I’m so proud of (crew chief) Alan Gustafson and everybody on this AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet. This team fought through a lot. We’ve been fighting hard. We just haven’t been getting the results. Today they stuck with a strategy and it played out. It wasn’t looking good at times, but boy, it sure looked good when we crossed the finish line and got the checkered flag.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 MICROSOFT CHEVROLET SS – Finished 4th
ON THE RACE
“We ran good lap times throughout the day. We got in front of the leader that one time and was running some good laps until we had a bad vibration kick-in and turned us sideways down there. But, we had good speed in the car. We needed to be a little bit better but I’m happy with how we finished.”
ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED WITH THE FINISH?
“No, not really. I was going to be disappointed to run 19th. So, we’ll take it.”
POCONO IS ALWAYS AN INTERESTING RACE WITH TWISTS AND TURNS AND PEOPLE HITTING THE WALL. IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE. FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, TALK ABOUT THE RACE TODAY
“Yeah, in the booth up there, they turned the clock back to 1973 and let that thing play out a little bit and let everybody run out of gas. That was pretty cool. It’s kind of like some of the older races where you just can’t count on them to throw them cautions there at the end. And they didn’t today.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED BY THAT?
“Absolutely. We always get yellows. I was real surprised that we didn’t get any.”
YOU SAID THE OTHER DAY THAT HENDRICK WASN’T ON THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN RIGHT NOW. HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER THIS RACE?
“I really enjoyed the power we had today. We had great motors. I could tell down the straightaway I was as good as anybody, or better. We’ve just got to work harder. Our car wasn’t very good all weekend in the corner. We had a lot of balance issues we never really cured. That held us up. We weren’t as good as we were here earlier this year. But still, it was a Top 10, Top 5 car, but just barely a Top 5 car. I thought we had a good enough car to win here when we came here earlier in the summer, but we lost a little balance.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – Finished 19th:
“It seems that I never come out ahead on these fuel mileage races. We thought we were going to be ok. I am sure other teams who ran out (of fuel) felt the same way. Yeah, it’s disappointing but what I am going to take away from this race is how our Furniture Row guys kept on making our Chevrolet better and better during the weekend. We were a contender today and in the big picture that’s the most important point for our team as we head into the Chase. We were rolling; we just needed a little more fuel to make it an even better weekend.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 BUSH’S GRILLIN BEANS CHEVROLET SS – Finished 7th:
It was definitely a little bit better. We just can’t quite get that perfect balance around this place. Or, close to it at least. We make some little gains and then the track changes. It’s just tight. I felt like my car was sensitive to the sun coming out. We lost it in happy hour and couldn’t really work on it. We got a Top 10 finish, that’s luck there. We’ve had a lot of bad luck on our side.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 AQUAFINA CHEVROLET SS – Lost control of the car in Turn 3 and crashed into pit wall on Lap 3 – Finished 43rd
WHAT HAPPENED THERE TO START THE INCIDENT?
“I just got loose. It was late exit and a lot later than I would have expected. That’s why I ended up so far down pit road and that was crazy because I have never ended up there. Yeah, I just got loose and basically spun and that was it. I tried saving it to try and avoid running into the wall, pit wall then ended up hitting the one on the left and not the one on the right. It’s been a rough last month for our Aquafina team. I am not sure why that happened and what happened so quickly there.”
WHEN YOU ARE SLIDING LIKE THAT TOWARD PIT WALL DO YOUR THOUGHTS IMMEDIATELY GO TOWARD THOSE BEHIND PIT WALL?
“Well, first of all I couldn’t believe I was clear over here this late in the corner and then all the way to the left heading towards pit wall. Then I saw the people and I thought to myself that those guys need to take off running and get out of the way. I didn’t know. I hadn’t done anything like that before so it was kind of crazy the way it all happened. I don’t know why were so far up and what the deal was right there.”
IS THERE A PARTICULAR REASON YOU CRASHED IN THAT PLACE ON THE TRACK?
“I just got loose really late, so far off the corner. A really late exit. I’m not sure why or what happened. It just jumped out. You’re so far off the corner, to slow slide and get so far down pit road, it was crazy. I’ve never ended up over there like that. I don’t know why that was. I couldn’t believe when the No. 26 (Jeb Burton) did earlier this weekend and then I did, probably further down than what he did.”
WERE YOU AFRAID OF HITTING ANYBODY?
“I wasn’t afraid I hit anyone because it threw me right back off the wall. But I was hoping that everybody saw me coming. I was coming fairly fast.
ARE YOU OKAY?
‘Yeah, I’m fine.”
WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THIS RACE AND THE POINT SITUATION?
“Yeah, that’s really bad for points. It’s bad for just our team to lose a car that quickly into this race. And the last month has been really bad. And that was worse. So, I don’t know what the deal is right there and what happened. I just lost it. Late exit. Got loose. Spun.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S/BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined with engine failure on lap 20 – Finished 42nd
DID YOU KNOW YOU HAD AN ISSUE?
“Yeah, coming around Turn 2 I knew some issues but didn’t realize they were going to be that big. But, all in all, I’m just really proud of my team. The car was fast. You’ll have days like this.”
WERE THEY MAYBE PUSHING THE ENGINE IN LOOKING AHEAD TO THE CHASE?
“I have no idea. That would be a great question for the engine shop. But, I don’t think that’s the case.”
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.
