NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FOLDS OF HONOR QUIKTRIP 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 26, 2016
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 MONSTER ENERGY/HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 2nd
“It was a good, consistent car and I hope that translates into race speed, as well. But thanks to Tony Gibson and everybody at Stewart-Haas, it’s a matter of preparing the best car during the off-season to come to these 1.5-mile tracks and seeing what you’ve got. Monster Energy is on the hood and Haas Automation. It’s just great to feel this right away with the speed and the energy from the car.”
IS TODAY A GREAT BUILDING BLOCK FOR SUNDAY’S RACE?
“That’s what I was congratulating the guys on. When we go through Daytona, and that’s 10 days of trying to find a little bit of speed here and there, and then boom, today you’ve got to do everything in 80 minutes. So, it’s great to see our team in a nice rhythm already and we’ll just try to capitalize on beating that No. 18 (Kyle Busch). He got us just by a little bit and I know I was a little bit tight out there on both ends of the race track, and so I’ll ask Gibson and the guys what we can do to fix that and dial her in for 500 miles.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 3rd
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“It’s interesting because I ran the bottom here last time. I kind of expected to run the bottom in qualifying this time. It seemed like everybody ran higher in (Turns) 1 and 2, which I think will be a good sign for the race because the bottom will work as well. I’m hoping that the new rules package maybe plays into that. I don’t know. I know at Kentucky when we ran this package we ran a lot higher than we traditionally did. Hopefully, it happens here as well. I think that puts on a better race for the fans.”
WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING NOW AS WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE RACE?
“I’m really proud of everyone at the entire shop. When you come to a 1.5-mile track you’re really depending on your car. And our 1.5-mile program last year wasn’t where it needed to be. They put a lot of effort into it like I said during Speedweeks and all the off-season media that this is where you really need to be good. The No. 42 car (Kyle Larson) was fast in practice. He got really loose; it looked like, in his qualifying laps. But then, we were really good as well. So, I’m proud of the effort by everybody on the McDonald’s Chevrolet. We’re off to a good start at the 1.5-mile tracks, which is critical.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 5th
YOU’VE HAD ONE QUALIFYING SESSION WITH THE NEW AERO PACKAGE. HOW WILL IT PLAY OUT IN PACKS DURING THE RACE?
“We spent a little bit of time in race trim today. Our guys did a good job of adapting the car to qualifying trim and getting the Caterpillar Chevrolet so it drives good. I think this is pretty equal as to where we qualified last spring so that’s a good indication of good preparation in the offseason. I think race trim is going to be super-exciting for us as drivers. I hope the fans can enjoy it. You’re putting the driver back into the equation, which is part of what we were missing in my opinion.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 7th
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“I felt like we made a lot of improvements. I felt like the car was a little better than me. I just wasn’t in a rhythm to run the high line and the things that we were doing in qualifying I didn’t practice that. I just didn’t hit all my marks to get the speed out of the car. I think our Jimmy John’s Chevrolet is faster than that. To qualify seventh and feel like we were off is a good day for us.”
TY DILLON, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 19th
HOW IS THE DAY GOING SO FAR?
“It just keeps getting better every time I’ve gotten into this Bass Pro No. 14. Mike (Bugarewicz, crew chief), and the guys have made it better and better for me and it’s made it easy for me to kind of cut out the learning curve here. I’m happy where we qualified. It’s nice to make it in the second round. I might have messed up a little bit in (Turns) 1 and 2 and kind of fudged our lap a little bit. But I can’t thank Tony (Stewart) and everybody at Stewart-Haas enough for giving me the opportunity to come out here and do this. This has been an awesome say so far. We’ve got two more days to go so hopefully we just continue on this train of getting better every time on the race track and maybe we’ll be up there by the end of it.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 20th
YOU HAD COLD TEMPERATURES AND A NEW LOW DOWNFORCE PACKAGE TODAY. WHAT WENT ON OUT THERE FOR YOU?
“I really don’t have a lot more to add. We just didn’t have the speed we needed to today. You can’t tell that the package is any different. The car drives pretty similar. We didn’t qualify last time because of an issue in tech. But things don’t seem a lot different as of now.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 25th
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“It was close. We needed to be a little bit faster than that to contend for the top 12 anyway. So, we’re just off a little bit from what we were hoping for, but the good news is it’s a long race on Sunday and we have another day of practice tomorrow. So, we’ll try to get things a little better.”
WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU NEED OUT OF YOUR CAR YOU CAN WORK ON IN PRACTICE TOMORROW TO BE GOOD FOR THE RACE?
“I think the biggest thing for the race is going to be drive off. Hoping you can stand back in the throttle when you need to for this long race on this wore out race track. Right there I just didn’t do a very good job getting up to speed, didn’t do a very good job running the top. I think through (Turns) 1 and 2 there is a lot of speed up there. I had been kind of committed to the bottom all day. Hopefully, Sunday that will be the place to be.”
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