NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 14, 2016
*Please note – the official starting order has yet to be released by NASCAR, thus no starting positions are noted.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – DAYTONA 500 POLE WINNER
“This is a very, very cool day. I don’t know that this opportunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500. So this is very cool. I think the big thing is just the team and the Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and the effort they put into these cars and it’s nothing special I did, it’s really what kind of work they did this off-season to make it happen. Jeff (Gordon) knows all about that and I just wanted to give a big thanks to NAPA Auto Parts and all of our partners at HMS on this No. 24 car. This is very special and a great way to start the season.”
HEY CHASE, THIS IS JEFF GORDON. WELCOME TO THE 2016 SPRINT CUP SERIES AND THE DAYTONA 500. WHAT AN INCREDIBLE WAY TO GET IT ALL STARTED. I KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO GIVE A LOT OF CREDIT TO THE TEAM FOR TODAY. FOR FROM HERE ON OUT, THE DRIVER IS GOING TO PLAY A HUGE ROLE. HOW DO YOU GET PREPARED TO TAKE THIS MOMENTUM INTO THE DUELS ON THURSDAY AND INTO THE DAYTONA 500? HOW DO YOU BECOME THE YOUNGEST DAYTONA 500 WINNER IN HISTORY?
“Well, I think you know how special this group of guys is and they do such a good job at all their jobs, and I’m very fortunate to have the kind of group we do. But, yeah, I think fro here, it started last night in paying attention to that Sprint Unlimited and I was watching to see what went on there and trying to learn a couple of things. I was able to watch from the Spotters’ Stand, so I think that was a good thing I had a chance to go do and just kind of watch from up there and kind of get an idea of what (spotter) Eddie (Dhondt) is going to be looking at when he’s making calls over the radio. I think from here is to just try to understand the draft a little bit more. The Duels I think will be a big eye-opener for me to try and learn this Cup-side a little bit on the drafting and hopefully we can go from there.”
HEY CHASE, THIS IS DW. YOU’VE GOT TO TAKE IT EASY DOWN THERE. I DON’T KNOW WHO WAS MORE NERVOUS, JEFF GORDON OR YOU! HE SAID YOU WERE GOING TO WIN THE POLE AND AFTER THAT FIRST RUN, HE WAS GETTING A LITTLE NERVOUS. BUT YOU CAME THROUGH FOR HIM. GREAT JOB BY YOU AND THE TEAM. I KNOW THAT YOU’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE DAYTONA 500. WHAT A GREAT HONOR TO START FROM THE POLE.
“It is. And I’m just so thankful for this opportunity. Opportunities like this don’t come twice and I certainly want to make the most of this. It’s very special and a very cool way to start our 2016 season with HMS and the No. 24 car and like I said, I’m just very honored and blessed to be with the group of guys that we have. I think it’s a special group. This entire team did such a good job on this car during this off-season. We certainly would like to have it to race on Sunday. It’s awfully fast. So, hopefully we can get through those Duels and be smart.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, NO. 59 THRIVENT FINANCIAL CHEVROLET SS:
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“We are not on the bubble we are going to be having to race in on Thursday. You just don’t take anything for granted. You try to go win the race is all you can do. You can’t think about where everybody else is going to finish and all that. I really separate the weeks. Today only meant first or second for us. We will move on to Thursday and race our way in.”
DO YOU FEEL GOOD? DO YOU THINK THE CAR IS CAPABLE?
“The speed is good. It’s probably the best speed we have had down here, but it also makes it a little more disappointing too because we had an opportunity to make it in today and not have to worry about Thursday altogether. It is Daytona, speed doesn’t matter, what matters is not getting in someone else’s mess.”
REGAN SMITH, NO. 7 NIKKO RC/GOLDEN CORRAL CHEVROLET SS:
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“Our qualifying effort was about what we thought we could turn, maybe a little bit more. You always want to go faster, but based on what we did yesterday we were kind of in that range. We will get ready for Wednesday, see how it drives. The excitement of being here is one thing, but now Wednesday rolls around and you don’t want to just be here. You want to be here and you want to do something spectacular. We are going to work hard for Golden Corral and Toy State and see where we shake out next week.”
BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/ MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS:
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“I feel good about it. Obviously you want more speed. I would love to be on the pole, but the pole doesn’t matter that much here. The guys did a great job on this Bass Pro/Mobil 1 Chevy. It handled great in the draft. The car last night handled great in the draft. I’m really happy with our set-up. I think that is going to matter most come the (Daytona) 500. I would love to be on the front row, but that’s okay. These guys worked hard and we will find some more speed this week. We still have the duels to practice and hopefully put this thing in Daytona Victory Lane.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 PEAK ANTIFREEZE/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS:
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“We had a really good pick up. We picked up about a quarter of a second which typically how this works we normally slow down. I was proud of my guys for finding a little bit of speed. Just barely missed out on transferring to the second round, but a lot better than I thought we would be, honestly. The car I think is going to race really well. It raced really well last time when we lacked single car speed, so I feel good about Thursday’s duels.”
TY DILLON, NO. 95 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS:
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“It was a great effort to be starting in the top 18. Very happy with our Cheerios Chevy. Todd (Parrott, crew chief) and all the guys putting hard work into it. Happy for Levine Family and Circle Sport racing to have such a good start here. Hopefully going into the duels we will have a good finish and give ourselves an even better chance. Just happy to be locked into the Daytona 500 and qualifying well is just another boost going into the weekend. Fun day, proud of the guys and their effort and we will go on to next Thursday.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS:
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“I’m excited. This is a good starting position for us. We didn’t think we had this kind of speed. It’s a good day for the Dow Chevy and everybody at RCR.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS:
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“Excited to be in the top five there. That is good for us. We don’t chase the pole all that hard. We are still more focused on Sunday’s race. I know there is more speed in the car to trim it out. I guess I’ve got that in the back of my mind, so top five is really good. We are excited. We are looking forward to it. Happy to see a Hendrick car on the pole, a Chevrolet on the pole and should have a good race.”
YOU ARE THE VETERAN AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS. TALK ABOUT YOUR ROOKIE TEAMMATE CHASE ELLIOTT BEING ON THE POLE:
“Excited for him, for the team, we have a great group of guys and I think that the respect we all have for one another and how hard we are all trying to improve the company and improve our teams has created a really tight bond between all of us. Very excited for those guys. I know they are going to have a great year.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS:
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“I think realistically that is where we thought we would qualify. I think we thought around 15th is where we would be. Everybody has worked hard and done everything that they can do, but I think that is about where we thought we would settle in. The car ran really good last in the Unlimited. We don’t expect this one to run any different. This is just a progression of the week. You go through qualifying and you just try to better yourself through the qualifying races, react to what you have for handling conditions and then go from there.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET SS:
IT WOULD APPEAR YOU ARE REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SUNDAY:
“It’s great to have a shot at going for a pole today. We got in the top 12. It’s neat though to see us back to single car qualifying the way that all the hard work by the crew members and the time that goes into building these cars. That group qualifying session wasn’t all that much fun. It’s neat to see the pride come back into trying to sit on the pole individually.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER/SCOTT’S PRODUCTS CHEVROLET SS:
“I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed for my guys. It wasn’t for lack of effort. They put a lot of work into trying to figure out how to make the car faster. We picked up eight-tenths from where we started, which is hard to do at Daytona. We’re just definitely lacking speed with the car for whatever reason. We’ll figure it out. We’ll go from there. We’ll try to make it good in the draft and try to make it as comfortable as we can because that’s what it’s going to come down to in the Daytona 500.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER (FOLLOWING FIRST ROUND OF QUALIFYING):
“I had a problem yesterday. It’s just something I need to get used to and I’ll do a better job. I think I lost a little speed there. But, I’m proud of the effort so far. I think the guys did a really good job overnight getting some extra speed out of the car. And hopefully we can try to have a good second round here.”
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS:
“That was close. But 13 is not a bad number for us. That number has been good for us. I’m real proud of the guys. Everybody here and the whole NASCAR group put a lot of work into this race and show our speed. it’s a great opportunity to show what a team is made out of and I think our guys paid a lot of attention to detail and the work that the Geico guys did was awesome. To be running in the groups that we’re running with here, the guys are going a really good job back at the shop. We built our own body in-house at Germain Racing with a lot of information from RCR; but the fact that we’re able to repeat that and get that close is a testament to how hard those guys work. I appreciate everything they do. Last night was a great time and obviously we’ve got some speed, so I’m looking forward to the 500.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S/CESSNA CHEVROLET SS:
“I like this format better than anything we’ve had at the plate tracks. It seems like you still get to have the fastest car be on the front row. I don’t know that you need two sessions of it. I think one would be sufficient. But overall, that was really good for our car. We haven’t really put a bit effort into our plate program the last three or four years and they did this year, and it’s shown. The car is probably better and our car last night ran really good. I’m looking forward to a couple of days of hanging out down here with our kids and then getting ready on Wednesday.”
DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM THE UNLIMITED?
“Oh, I don’t know. Handling isn’t really a big deal in the Unlimited because it’s so cool out. For me, it wasn’t really on track stuff, it was getting used to the dash and how to do pit road speed. We changed some stuff on our dash today trying to get it easier to read. And, I think the Unlimited is really good. It’s a great pre-race to get used to the pit crew and coming to pit road and restarts and all the stuff that goes with it.”
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