NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FORD ECOBOOST 400
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
NOVEMBER 20, 2015
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 5th
HOW DID YOU PULL THAT OFF AFTER HAVING TO MAKE AN EXTRA RUN?
“Whew, it wasn’t easy. Man, that was a heck of an effort by this team. We’ve got a great race car. I just totally messed up. That first run, without making a qualifying run in practice, I just didn’t know how hard I could push it or how much the track had picked-up. And it cost me that first run because I felt like I drove in deep and got back on the gas early, but I didn’t push it near hard enough to make it through. I hate we had to put that extra lap on the tires. I really believe we might have had a shot at this thing. I don’t know if I could have run what Joey (Logano) ran there, or the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin), but man, a top 5, are you kidding me? That’s awesome. I’m really proud of that.”
IN RETROSPECT, THE EXTRA RUN IN ROUND 1 MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST OF THE DAY. DID YOU THINK YOU COULD PICK UP A TENTH AND A HALF AFTER YOU HAD JUST RUN MOMENTS AGO?
“You know, I wasn’t sure. I was looking at everything and trying to figure out where I lost time. I felt like the balance of the car was good. I felt like the grip was good. I just obviously felt like I didn’t push it hard enough and wasn’t aggressive enough with it. So, I said well, I’m not going to leave anything on the table this time. And then we made that run, and the car was a little bit tight, but I was more aggressive and I got through (Turns) 1 and 2 good and that’s what kind of saved the lap or saved us to get to Round 2. And then from that point on it was just oh man, how are we going to keep advancing because I already had too much on the tires at that point and at this place, fall-off is huge. We have a very strong race car in this Axalta Chevrolet, obviously, because to be able to do that the next couple of runs; I’m pretty proud of those laps. I had to make up to this team what I did on the first run, so I was glad I was able to make it up. It’s pretty awesome to get Top 5. I’m really happy and proud of that.”
THAT WILL BE YOUR FINAL QUALIFYING EFFORT AND A PRETTY GOOD NOTE TO GO OUT ON, ISN’T IT AFTER ALL THE EFFORT BY YOU AND BY YOUR TEAM?
“Well again, you’re always looking for just confidence and momentum and the way our practice went earlier and then the rain hit and then that first lap on the track here in Qualifying, it wasn’t looking good. But, that’s what this team has done all year long is find a way to claw and scrape and then get ourselves back into it; and those next three runs were huge. So, yeah, that’s what you’ve got to do if you’re going to win this thing.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 9th
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“I’m glad we qualified well and I expected we might just how the car was so competitive at Texas. I think this track is very similar. I’m pretty happy. I could have probably done a little better job. I didn’t run a good line on the last run. (Turns) 3 and 4 I probably should have run a little higher. I got tight and I tried to run a little too low. I should have ran on the fence. I think I could have run a tenth faster than we ran, but still good job by my guys. Three final rounds in a row, that has been our problem all year is qualifying. It looks like we made some gains.”
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