NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GOOD SAM 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 13, 2016
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
YOU WON BY A HUNDREDTH OF A SECOND, THE CLOSEST FINISH IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP RACING HISTORY. HOW DID YOU HOLD OFF CARL EDWARDS?
“Well, I knew he was better through (Turns) 3 and 4. That was not the car that I wanted to see behind me. I knew I could beat him down there and I tried to protect the bottom in (Turns) 3 and 4 and I just missed the bottom with all the rubber build-up on the tires and everything. But, all in all, I knew I was going to be on defense down there. I got up too high and wasn’t able to stay on the bottom like I wanted to and then he got into me, like he should have, and I needed to get a good run off the corner and I was going to have to get into his door and it worked out, just barely. I just want to thank Jimmy John’s, Busch, Chevrolet, Mobil 1 and everybody at Stewart-Haas for everything that they do.”
NO MATTER WHAT THEY THROW AT YOU, A DIFFERENT TIRE, A DIFFERENT PACKAGE, AND DIFFERENT COMPETITION EVEN CLOSING THE GAP ON YOU, YOU STILL COME OUT ON TOP. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE THAT MAKES YOU SO GOOD HERE?
“I just like racing here. It’s just one of those places where I feel like I’ve been here enough times to where I can move around and find something to make our car work. We struggled a lot this weekend to get the balance where we wanted to, but we knew the feel that we were looking for, and we got pretty close there in Happy Hour and still in the race, I feel like I was good through (Turns) 1 and 2 and at times, was good through (Turns) 4 and 4, but it was very edgy. Maybe that’s a product of the new package or the tires or whatever it is.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – Finished 5th
YOU HAD A GREAT RUN ALL DAY, BUT YOU DID HAVE A GOOD SEAT AT THE END TO SEE THE FINISH:
“Yeah, I was surprised we finished as good as we did. I thought that was a good move to not pit. If a couple more guys don’t pit and we get another guy on the outside in the second row we was in good shape.”
WAS LANE CHOICE THE KEY ON THE FINAL RESTART?
“I would have loved to have had the top, so I could get them guys on the bottom and hold them down, but I had the bottom and new tires on the outside of me a situation. But, we finished really good. I don’t dislike the call to stay out. We had an awesome car and that’s three weeks in a row I’ve enjoyed the hell out of driving it. I had a fun day and we ran great; really, really good. I’m proud of my guys.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 MONSTER ENERGY/HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – Finished 6th
“It was a good run, it wasn’t a great run. Thanks to all my guys. We tried hard, we worked hard and it’s just a matter of getting that grip later in the day. Kevin Harvick is a master here at Phoenix, congrats to him. We were close. We will keep chipping away at it.”
WITH THE NEW PACKAGE HOW MUCH WAS TRACK POSITION A FACTOR TODAY?
“Same as always. I was just hoping the cars would drop off further and the cars would slide around some more.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – Finished 8th
“I felt like it was a solid day for us. I was just happy we finally put a day together and got a finish that these guys deserved. I feel like we had a good car. We made gains on it all day long. That last restart, obviously, was pretty wild. We tried our best. We gave up a couple of spots, but we will take it and move on to Fontana.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – Finished 9th
“Solid day we ran right there 10th all day. At the end Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) made the call to stay out. It was a gutsy call. I think right there at the end the No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) kind of spun his tires and didn’t get going. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) put me three-wide, so glad to come out with ninth after that. We gained a spot overall. We probably could have had, maybe two more spots really, just a fun race. I’m looking forward to this year. That was enjoyable right there.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Finished 12th
“Our day was not great. We ran 16th to 20th the whole time. We were able to be the first car on four tires on the last restart and I was surprised it wasn’t really an advantage at all. The No. 43 (Aric Almirola) got into the No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) and shuffled a few cars out of the way for me so I was able to sneak by on the bottom to finish 12th. So, we finished a lot better than we ran. I’m happy about that. We needed a day like this after the last couple of races. So, we head to Fontana a track where I’m normally good at and then hopefully get a top 10.”
TY DILLON, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET SS – Finished 15th
“It was a solid day. It was exactly what I wanted as a driver coming here. We stayed on the lead lap and finished in the top 15 and brought back a car these guys can improve. I learned so much today as a driver. Just can’t thank Stewart-Haas for the opportunity. It was a lot of fun working with these guys. I look forward to doing it again.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 FRY’S/SCOTT PRODUCTS CHEVROLET SS – Finished 17th
“We started off fighting what we fought all weekend just tight. Some of that was a little bit expected. Knowing what this place does, we tightened the car up a lot and tried to do a couple of things to help it turn, but we had tightened up overall. We started really tight like usual Randall (Burnett, crew chief) and the guys they kept making the right adjustments. We actually had one run I thought we were really good. We tried to go the same direction on that change and I think we got over the limit and we blowed the right front out, I could feel it. I pitted and that got us kind of out of sequence. At the end there I thought we were decent. I think we salvaged the best finish we could salvage out of a rough weekend that is all you can ask for.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – Finished 22nd
“We had a right front tire go down. It happened earlier in the race but a caution came out and I thought it was the engine at the time because of the way it kind of vibrated and changed the tone of the engine. Come to find out it wasn’t the engine and it was the tire. We’ll look at what we are doing since it happened a couple of times. We had a car capable of running in the top 15 and we were really good early. The longer the race went I felt like I got looser. I used a lot of brake during the entire the race, which I was surprised about. Yesterday in practice I didn’t have to use the brake hardly at all and today with different grips I used it so much.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 RICHMOND/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – Involved in an on-track accident on lap 106
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I’m not really sure. We were okay that last run. We fired off pretty decent and started getting really tight at the end. I don’t know if a left-front tire blew or what going into (Turn) 3. I don’t know if something broke or if a tire blew. We are going to check it out. I’m curious about it.”
ON HOW THE CAR WAS HANDLING:
“It all seems good. The track is hotter than it was yesterday. It’s pretty slipper. A lot of fun to drive.”
DID YOUR TEAM HAVE ANY CONCERNS AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NO. 31?
“Well I was told that it wasn’t a tire failure on the No. 31, but then I just heard again that it was. I’m not really sure. To me it didn’t feel like what happened to us was a tire failure, it felt like something broke. As soon as it happened I had no brakes either. I don’t really know. We are going to go find out.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 GRAINGER CHEVROLET SS – Experienced a tire failure on lap 51
WHAT HAPPENED?
“We just blew a right-front tire. It must have melted the bead or something. I don’t know if something failed in the cooling department or what the deal was. I didn’t do anything any different than I’ve ever done here before. Just definitely blew a right-front tire out and that was the end of our day with the Grainger Chevrolet.”
DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING OR DID IT JUST BLOW?
“It just blew all at once.”
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