MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
APRIL 28, 2017
PAIR OF CHEVY’S TO START IN THE TOP 12 AT RICHMOND
RICHMOND, Va. (April 28, 2017) – A pair of Team Chevy drivers will start in the Top 12 on Sunday in the 400-lap/300-mile Toyota Owners 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race around the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 GearWrench Chevrolet SS will lead the charge for the Bowtie Brand rolling off from the 10th starting spot.
Earlier this week, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., a lifetime Chevrolet racer, announced that 2017 will be his last season behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet SS. Despite the retirement announcement, there is still a lot of racing left in the 2017 campaign. Earnhardt, Jr. made the final round of knock-out-qualifying for the fourth time this season and will pilot the No. 88 Nationwide Chevy SS from the 12th starting spot when the green flag waves on Sunday afternoon.
Ryan Newman narrowly missed making the Top 12 when he tied a fellow competitor for the final transfer spot in Round 2. According to the NASCAR rule book, the tie breaker is the car who is highest in the owner point standings, despite their win earlier this season at Phoenix International Raceway, Newman was not able to move to the final round to have a shot at the pole. The former RIR winner will start 13th in the No. 31 Okuma Chevrolet SS.
Chase Elliott, No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet SS, will start 14th, seven-time Monster Energy Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, and most recent Chevy winner last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway will start 17th. Current point leader, Kyle Larson, will begin his quest for the lead in No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet from the 18th starting spot. Kasey Kahne, a former winner at RIR, will start 19th rounding out the Team Chevy power in the top 20.
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) earned the pole, Ryan Blaney (Ford) will start second, Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota) will start third, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (Ford) will start fourth and Joey Logano (Ford) will start fith.
The Toyota Owner’s 400 is slated to begin Sunday April 30th at 2 p.m.
QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES:
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 10th
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN
“We’ve been really consistent all year long on our qualifying. We’ve been 8th to 10th. I thought our GearWrench Chevy was going to be a little bit better today. We were fourth in the next to the last round and you know, gosh, this is a hard place to adjust on your car because the tires have so much fall-off and you lose so much grip that you don’t really know which way to adjust the balance. And then we just got too loose the last run and had to hang on for a top 10.
“The best part is that we get to practice in the daytime because we race in the daytime, which is great because we normally practice in the daytime and race at night (at RIR). But, you know, you just get your car to where you have good forward drive. It gets so slick. And it’s going to be 90 degrees on Sunday. It’s the first hot race of the year, which is going to be tough. And then just, man, grip is going to be key.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 OKUMA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 13th
YOU TIED WITH CLINT BOWYER TO GET INTO THE NEXT ROUND BUT DUE TO OWNER’S POINTS YOU ARE BUMPED OUT. AS A DRIVER HOW FRUSTRATING IS THAT?
“I mean they add guys to the Chase so they could add guys to qualifying for a tie right? But, no, it was a good improvement over practice for our Okuma Chevrolet. It sucks I guess, kind of to put it into one word to tie and not make it, but that is the way the points work and we will just keep digging.”
ANY CHALLENGES TO STARTING 13TH ON SUNDAY?
“Just 12 of them. Twelve challenges in front of you.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 17th
WHAT WAS THE ISSUE WITH THE QUALIFYING RUN?
“It’s just a very challenging qualifying session and on stickers you put up a great time and you are a little nervous to change much to fire back off on scuffs. The track is much different on scuffs than stickers. I just lacked driver off. Drive off was marginal on the sticker run and going to scuffs it was just far worse. We definitely felt like we were going to qualify better than 17th especially the way that first round went, but that is part of it. Qualifying is not my strong suit, let’s line them up and race and I will be just fine.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 18th
YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY DISAPPOINTED WITH QUALIFYING.
“We struggled pretty bad there. We were really, really loose in, extremely tight in the middle, and really loose off. We didn’t have a good balance at all there in qualifying. I’m not sure if the track changed a lot. They didn’t really change much on our car but it handled way different. So, I’m not really sure why we were so much slower and off on balance. We’ll have our work cut out for us on Sunday.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 ROCKSTAR ENERGY/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 26th
WAS IT SOMETHING MORE THE CAR NEEDED OR WAS IT SOMETHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE AS A DRIVER?
“We were pretty happy with it in practice. We really didn’t do many changes. I was just really loose in and off versus how we ended practice. We are going to go look at some data and see, but kind of took me by surprise.”
WHAT IS ON THE CHECK LIST FOR TOMORROW?
“We actually hit on a couple of things in qualifying trim there we are going to try for tomorrow. Now that we just qualified I don’t know if that is the right direction, but we are going to think about it and make some good decisions here.”
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