MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BOJANGLES SOUTHERN 500
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 2, 2017
TOP TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIERS:
POS. DRIVER
4TH KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CHEVROLET SS
5TH JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVY SS
13TH AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CHEVROLET SS
TOP FIVE QUALIFIERS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Kevin Harvick (Ford)
2nd Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
3rd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
4th Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
5TH Jamie McMurray (Chevrolet)
The Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway is scheduled to begin on Sunday, September 3rd. Live coverage can be found on NBC Sports Network, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 at 6:00 p.m.
POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 4th
“I got through Turn Three and Turn Four better (than previous runs) but I was still too loose to commit to wide-open throttle, which hurt my overall speed. It’s a lot better than I’ve ever qualified here, so hopefully that will give us a better pit stall selection for tomorrow’s race. This is a fun place, but it’s definitely tough.”
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING SESSION?
“Good. Obviously, I would like to be on the pole, but it’s a lot better than I have ever qualified here. That will help our pit stall selection and hopefully have a good race tomorrow. Just got to keep it out of the wall and should be alright.”
THIS SHOULD BE YOUR KIND OF TRACK RUNNING UP BY THE WALL, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CAR FOR TOMORROW NIGHT?
“I thought we were good in practice. The first practice I was pretty tight, second practice I was really loose. I think the track went through a lot of changes throughout the day yesterday, so we will have to stay on top of that tomorrow for sure.”
WHAT HAS THE LEARNING CURVE BEEN HERE FOR YOU AT DARLINGTON?
“Patience for sure. As everyone knows, I like to run (near) the wall, and typically here I get into the wall. Two years ago, I didn’t get into the wall at all and last year maybe just nicked it once. It’s a long race. The track is pretty slick at the start with the sun out. You have to take your time. Distance-wise this isn’t our longest race, but for time and feel I feel it’s the longest race of our season.”
DOES RUNNING THE HIGH-LINE PAY DIVIDENDS HERE?
“I don’t know. It depends on how your car is. A couple of years ago, I ran the bottom in Three and Four, and last year I could go pretty much wherever I wanted; I was probably a little better up top. So far, this weekend, I’ve only been up top in Three and Four against the wall. We’ll see. Our car is pretty good, so I just have to be patient.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 5th
“Qualifying was pretty eventful. It’s fun here to qualify and it’s maybe one of the funnier qualifying sessions we get to run with the exception of maybe a road course just because the corners are so different and so fast there is not a lot of grip. But, yeah, we were I think like third, fourth and fifth, we were kind of the same in all three sessions. The car was good though. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I thought we were good in race trim.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 13th
YOU JUST MISSED MAKING THE FINAL ROUND… THAT HAS TO HURT:
“Yeah, we have had a really good car this weekend with our American Ethanol Chevy and it looks so good. I just wish we could have got into the top 12 and had another shot at it. I got a little aggressive going into Turn 3, used a little too much brake and got loose. So, looking forward to tomorrow, the Bojangles 500, man, this is going to be fun. This car has been good, like I said, one of the best cars I’ve ever had here so, I’m excited for the race.”
HOW FINE IS THE LINE OF BEING AGGRESSIVE AND BEING SAFE?
“It is a really tight line, like you said, I mean a finger width here, it goes a long way when you get up the track in (Turns) 1 and 2. If you just get that right front out of that black just enough you can suck yourself right into the wall. I watched my brother (Ty Dillon) do it there in the first round and I about did it in the second round. So, we still had a good lap overall, I just wish I could have it over and gain a little bit some other places. If I would have released the brake in (Turn) 3 I think we had ‘em.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 18th
WHAT WAS THE THOUGHT PROCESS BEHIND DECIDING NOT TO MAKE A SECOND RUN HERE IN THIS ROUND?
“Just that it’s Darlington and it takes so much out of the tires to improve a handful of spots just isn’t worth the laps. Really you go out complete a lap and then an in so it’s essentially three laps on the tires and of all tracks not to do that, this is the one, unless you have a shot to run in that top 12. So, not where we wanted to qualify, but the car is driving a lot better than it did yesterday and that will transition into a better race for us.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 22nd
WHAT DO YOU NEED IN THE CAR FOR TOMORROW NIGHT THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TODAY?
“Well, the set-up is different I think we were a better car in race trim yesterday. We had much better speed and a whole lot better balance. We put our car in qualifying trim yesterday and it just struggled. We made a lot of changes last night we thought would help and they didn’t. But, looking at all of us, all the Hendrick Motorsports cars had a little bit of a tough time there. I’m not sure, I will have to look at everybody’s comments and see if we can learn anything from it, but our package just didn’t have any speed for qualifying. But, I think our race stuff is going to be great. I think all the cars were really good in race trim.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS THROWBACK CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 20th
“It would have been tough to go any faster. The NAPA Chevy didn’t go like I was hoping she would go. I don’t know exactly what our problem was. We need to get back and talk about it. I don’t know what we need to do, but that is not very good.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 25th
“Maybe I should have kept in the pits. I was trying to make something happen. We picked up a second from our qualifying run yesterday. I knew most of our speed was in Turn One and Two and I was a little aggressive getting in and getting back to the throttle to make that speed. You are so naturally close to wall there that it’s hard to tell how close you got to the wall. I just got it and it kept pulling me into it. But I think our car is fine. Our Geico Chevy looks really cool this weekend. I’m excited for my first Southern 500. It’s a cool race that I’ve watched my whole life. To be a part of it tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun. Also, to represent Smokey Yunick… he’s a legend in all our eyes. It’s cool to have that paint scheme. Our car is really good on race runs. I love racing this track; it’s fun track because you race it for the whole race to get a good result.”
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