NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 9, 2016
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
IT LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD THE POLE, BUT THROUGH TURNS 3 AND 4 SEEMED TO KILL THE LAP. WHAT WAS GOING ON THERE?
“Yeah, I was losing my drive off of (Turn) 4; but I’ll take a second here. I’ve always qualified somewhat decent here. I would have liked to get the pole, but we’ll take a front row start. Short tracks are where I struggle the most, so it’s nice to qualify good. We’ve just got to race well. I’ve qualified good on short tracks before, just haven’t raced great. We’ve changed some stuff on the Target Chevy to try and make it better. So far this weekend it’s been paying off. So, I’m happy about that. It’s still a long race tomorrow to try and work on it.”
CONSIDERING YOU GUYS HAVE APPROACHED IT THIS WEEKEND AS A TEST WEEKEND, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE MADE POSITIVE STEPS?
“Yeah, I think so. You can see in our speed; we have a little bit more speed than I’ve had in the past. It’s been a while since we’ve actually gotten to qualify here because I think we rained out earlier this year. But, like I said, qualifying has been good for me on short tracks, but the racing is where I struggle. So, I just want to get a good run. A top 10 would be great for me here and a really good finish for us.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 SHERWIN WILLIAMS EMERALD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 4TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT AND HIS OUTLOOK FOR TOMORROW NIGHT’S RACE:
“Well, it’s a really big weekend for us, but more than that I’m just thrilled how both of our cars are running. We have just made such big improvements. We ran good at a 2-mile track at Michigan. We ran good at Darlington with a different rules package and we’ve run good at a short track. As an organization, it’s been really good and the next 10 races, if we can get in, it’s going to be pretty awesome because our cars have peaked at the right time.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 7TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“Yeah we had a good car. It felt really good the first run and each run after that the front end was just a touch tighter, so it made it a little harder to make the lap time we wanted. But we still ended up seventh, which is pretty decent for us as of late in qualifying. I was happy with that. I had a great car today during the day. We made gains throughout all of practice. We started fast and then made gains from there. I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s race.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR CHANCES ARE FOR TOMORROW NIGHT TO GET A WIN?
“I think they are as good as they’ve been in a while. I feel like last week we had a solid car, the week before we had a solid car, but I think this week it even feels a little bit better on the long run. A lot of cars are, so it’s going to be a tough race, but I think we have a car capable of contending and racing in the top five throughout the night.”
JEFF GORDON, INTERIM DRIVER, NO. 88 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“Yeah, I feel like we had a solid car all day. When the sun drops and the track temperature comes down like it did here I didn’t know what to expect, but the first round we made one lap and it wasn’t really a great lap by any means, but it was fast enough to move us to round two. At that point I knew a tiny adjustment and me hitting my marks we were going to have a good race car and we got all the way around (Turn) 3 and just got a little bit too tight each round and probably didn’t keep up with it that last round. That is why I fell back to 11th, but great experience with Greg (Ives, crew chief) and the No. 88 team getting to round three again. We did it at Bristol and now we did it again here at Richmond so short tracks are working out pretty well for us. I’m excited about the race tomorrow night I thought our car was really good.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 15th
WHAT WERE THE STRUGGLES WITH THE CAR?
“Just speed, really. The balance wasn’t that far off. We look at how we’re getting grip in all four corners of the race car on the Caterpillar Chevrolet. The guys are doing a good job working really hard. We’ve got to find a little bit of extra speed there for a quick lap. We didn’t have it all day, but we felt like our long run speed has been a little bit better than our short run speed and hopefully that pays off tomorrow night.”
KNOWING YOU ARE IN A SITUATION WHERE YOU HAVE TO WIN TOMORROW NIGHT, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE MADE THE CAR BETTER THROUGHOUT THE DAY TO GIVE YOU A BETTER SHOT AT THAT TOMORROW EVENING?
“I think we have, but I think a lot of the other guys have been doing the same thing. We’ve been trying to win now for three years, so there’s no better time than tomorrow night.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER/SCOTT PRODUCTS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 16TH
“This hasn’t been our best race track the last couple of races. Definitely came trying some new stuff. Started the day off pretty far off and made improvements all day and we didn’t have a good qualifying trim run in practice and we made small improvements for that. It is going to be a tough night tomorrow night, but we got out there and do the right things and keep adjusting on it we can have a solid race. I feel like anything inside the top-20, top-15 is far better than where we have been here, so that is what our goal is.”
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 26TH
YOU WERE FASTEST IN HAPPY HOUR, BUT YOU WILL START 26TH HERE TOMORROW NIGHT WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE?
“We went out early in Happy Hour and I think that made a difference. The track was quite a bit better the first part of Happy Hour and it had some grip. That got us up the charts, but I think the car has been driving halfway decent. I struggled with getting it to turn a little bit landing and then it was loose all the way off. We went back out again and got real loose in, so definitely not what we wanted. We were hoping to at least make the top 24, but hopefully we will have a good night tomorrow night.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 AMERICAN RED CROSS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 34TH
WHAT WERE YOU STRUGGLING WITH DURING QUALIFYING?
“We’re just not going fast enough for sure. I really don’t know what our problem is, but we struggled in our mock runs earlier today, too. So, we just need to think about it, I guess, and try to go to work tonight. But, the Red Cross Chevrolet has been trying today. We’re giving it our best effort. It just hasn’t been where we need to be. The bad news is that it’s a terrible starting spot; but the good news is that it’s a long race tomorrow night. We have some teammates that are fast so hopefully we can lean on them and try to get our Chevrolet a little better.”
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