NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS RACE FOR HEROES 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
NOVEMBER 15, 2015
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
YOU HAD A FAST CAR, BUT YOU WERE ALSO IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME. TELL US ABOUT THAT PIT CALL:
“We had an idea that the rain was in the area, but all the circumstances that played out at the end of the race are just kind of luck I think. I want to give Greg (Ives, crew chief) a lot of credit and the guys. They gave us a good enough car to come here and qualify well. I think the reason why we won this race is because of the way we qualified to give ourselves a position to be up front all night. When something like this quirky happens we were able to capitalize. It’s a rain-shortened win, but my guys are very proud of it because of how the car ran all weekend and we put ourselves in this position. A lot of guys would love to see this race continue and have an opportunity to race to the Chase. If I had four or six inches at Talladega we would be going there to Homestead to race for a championship too. It works out for some and some it doesn’t. We will take this win it has been a long year and we put a lot of effort into it and we are starting to see somethings turn around and work for us like we want. We were fast all weekend, so real proud of this.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER/JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
TALK ABOUT THE DAY AND HOW STRONG YOUR CAR WAS AND HOW THAT MAKES YOU FEEL GOING INTO HOMESTEAD NEXT WEEKEND
“I want to thank everybody on our Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team for just a really, really fast car. We made great adjustments overnight and got that little bit of balance that we were looking for from practice, and just the way that the caution fell, I didn’t get all my distance back on the race track under green and Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) was able to beat us out. But hey, you lose some and you win some like that. And sometimes you’re on the right side of it and sometimes you’re on the wrong side of it. Today, we were on the wrong side of it, but in the big picture we’re racing for a championship next week. So, I’m just really proud of everybody on our team.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THROUGH A CRAZIER DAY THAN THIS IN TERMS OF THE WEATHER?
“I’ve been through a lot longer rain delays than this one. You just can’t control a lot of these things. Who would have thought you’d come to the desert and it’s going to rain? But, bring NASCAR, and you’ll catch-up on your rain.”
TALK ABOUT FIGHTING FOR ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ALL YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH THIS YEAR
“Well, I feel like we’ve overcome a lot of things throughout the Chase. We’ve survived and advanced. It hasn’t been 100% pretty from one end to the other, but I think as you look at the Chase, it’s been championship material and that’s proven by making it to the championship race. I’m just really proud of everybody and we’re going to go down there and just do like we’ve done and race as hard as we can.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 6th
ARE THESE THE GUYS YOU WANT TO RACE AGAINST AT HOMESTEAD?
“Those are the guys I picked (laughs)”!
YOU PICKED THOSE GUYS?
“Well, just in my mind I thought we were going to be battling. Obviously, each week things changed. But, I’m excited about our chances and our opportunity. Our team is fired up and working hard on that Homestead car ever since we won Martinsville; and we know we’ve got some tough competitors to go up against, but I love Homestead. I love that race track. I think we showed that last year. I can’t wait to get down there and get that car on track and start tuning it in for the race.”
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO BALANCE ALL THE OFF-TRACK STUFF & FAMILY VERSUS THE GUYS YOU HAVE TO RACE?
“I just tapped into a six-time champion, Jimmie Johnson, and I said, ‘What do I need to go do?’ He’s been giving me some great advice about how to shut it off. It’s been a while for me, but we’re determined and focused as a team to go down there and stay focused and do everything possible. You’ve got to have good people around you to help guide you and give you good direction and give you that time that you need to not have the distractions. My wife and I have been having a lot of discussions about that, and I’m looking forward to staying out at the track, a long way from everything else and everybody else, and just staying focused on what we need to do for Sunday.”
WHAT WILL THE PREPARATION WEEK BE LIKE FOR YOU?
“Fortunately and unfortunately, NASCAR plans a lot of things for the four drivers for this whole week; and we’ll be seeing a lot of one another and unfortunately, that takes us away from what we would typically do with our teams, at least for me, on Tuesday; so I’ve got to figure out how to do that by phone from New York. We’ll be up in New York. And then heading down to Homestead on Wednesday and then we’re all together again on Thursday.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 7th
WHY WAS THAT A PENALTY IN YOUR EYES?
“I don’t even think it was a penalty.”
DID TONY GIBSON GIVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW CLOSE THAT CALL WAS THERE?
“It’s not even a call in my mind.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON YOUR SEASON IF WE CAN’T GET THIS RACE RESTARTED AND YOU WON’T MOVE ON TO HOMESTEAD?
“We had a great season. We won two races, sat on three poles. We did everything possible to put polish on a season like that and get out there with elbow grease and work hard at it. There is some tarnish that is sitting there, polish and polish and that is all I kept doing this whole year.”
ON HIS CAR AND THE RACE WITH 100 LAPS TO GO:
“We are running seventh and everything is good. Tony Gibson (crew chief) and all these guys at SHR really provided me a car to come out here and do the job we needed to do. That is to win to advance into the final round. So, we are seventh right now. I wish Mother Nature would help us find clearer skies so that we could dry the track and race these final 100 miles.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/VISSER PRECISION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14th
“What can I say about the whole team and everybody at Furniture Row Racing and everybody back at the shop in Denver? It’s just a dream come true for us. I’m just really proud of what we’ve accomplished this year and to be able to be putting really good weeks together was really awesome. I got a little nervous there when the caution came out on us tonight, but all in all we did what we had to do and Homestead is a really good race track for me and that’s our kind of race track for this team. So, I’m excited about next week and the opportunity to do something special. This is the kind of thing that you dream about since you were a little kid. Having a shot to win a Sprint Cup Series championship is just awesome and I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE GOING TO HOMESTEAD TO RACE FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP?
“It’s awesome. Just can’t say enough about everybody at Furniture Row Racing and what we have accomplished this year; my crew chief, Cole Pearn and everybody there just really proud of them, and really excited to have this opportunity. Tonight was tough. We didn’t have the greatest car, but we hung on all night long. Really go nervous there when we got caught under that last caution. All-in-all it worked out and Homestead is going to be a really good racetrack for us. Looking forward to going there with a shot at doing what we have all dreamed of doing our whole lives.”
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