MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
ALABAMA 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
OCTOBER 14, 2017
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS – Pole Winner
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO GET A POLE ON YOUR FINAL ATTEMPT AT TALLADEGA?
“We got a pole earlier this year at Daytona. We’ve been fighting our teammate, Chase (Elliott) and his group for poles at these tracks for a long time and it’s been a lot of fun to be honest with you, how these two teams have pushed and elevated each other. Really, all the credit for getting a pole at a place like this goes to the team and goes to the car and the guys that work on it, the engine, the body men; we’ve got an amazing staff back at Charlotte that builds some awesome stuff. I just hold the wheel straight and try not to bounce into the apron, but get as close to it as you can and make sure you run a clean lap. But there ain’t much to it as a driver. This place has meant a lot to me. It’s awesome to hear those fans happy for us and hopefully we’re going to give them a lot more to cheer about before this weekend is over.”
HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO IMAGINE GOING OUT AT TALLADEGA WITH A WIN?
“Certainly. You think about that every time you suit-up and get in the car, you imagine if that’s going to be the day you get a win. But, this would be a real important one if we could win for all the fans, all year long, we certainly owe them a win and it would be great to get them one on Sunday.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 2nd:
YOU WILL START ON THE FRONT ROW, BUT IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU COULD HAVE DONE TO GET THE POLE?
“I don’t think so, but congrats to Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) and the No. 88 team. They do a good job. Our team does great with this stuff. We definitely have a knack for it. We just hope that we can run good tomorrow and it lasts over the long haul. As hot as it is down here I think it’s going to be pretty important and we’ll try to finish this thing. We’ll see.”
DO HANDLING ISSUES IN THE PACK CONCERN YOU AT ALL?
“No, until we get the race started and kind of see what kind of aero situations you’re in, it’s not doing to drive good regardless of however it is. When you get in those strange aero situations you don’t have a lot of air on your car and you’re tucked-up tight behind somebody, so those are the spots you have to watch out for. And I think anyone is susceptible to getting into a bad place there if the pieces align bad for you. We’ll hopefully stay out of positions like that and try to finish this thing.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 8th
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING RUN?
“For us and yesterday with the spin, there was some damage done to the car… nothing visible but bouncing it across the apron definitely bent some things. We went out in the second practice and were second off of our teammates, so we knew something was really wrong. The guys had to go through it through the end of second practice and through the time today and got everything straight again. Now that everything is straight, the car is showing good speed so everything is great.”
DOES QUALIFYING MATTER HERE? YOU’RE TOWARD THE FRONT, SO IS THAT ENOUGH?
“It doesn’t hurt. It’s not crucial here. But for the effort that was put into this car… just for pride and a data point for how much effort went into this car and to be a second off, we were like, ‘Wait a second.’ It was a good moral victory. The 24 and 88 have been really fast, and we feel our car should be close to them. We’re a bit more set up to race than they are, so it was nice to get the speed back in the car today.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 11th: “Qualifying doesn’t mean a lot for the race tomorrow. But it means a lot for the speed of the car, and the effort that goes into it from the team and the guys at the shop. You always want to qualifying well. You learn how well the engine runs and things like that. Overall I felt really good about our car yesterday. We didn’t qualifying as well as I thought we were going to, but I think we will race just fine.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 FIRST DATA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 12th
HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING HERE AND ARE YOU HAPPY WITH WHERE YOU ENDED UP?
“I’m happy we made the final round. It’s the first time we’ve ever done it at a superspeedway so that’s pretty cool. Qualifying doesn’t really matter other than pit selection – which isn’t that big of a deal either because the pit boxes are so long. Typically everyone is on the lead lap. Qualifying is a good ego boost for your team, and for us to make the final round for the first time is a cool deal.”
DOES IT TAKE A LITTLE PRESSURE OFF THIS RACE WITH IT NOT BEING A CUT-OFF RACE?
“No. In our position of having a lot of bonus points, I would have liked having Talladega as the elimination round thinking we would have had a good Kansas because then we could have just ridden around. Now we have to go race like the Gibbs guys did last year.”
JAMIE McMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 17th
“I thought that was a pretty good qualifying result for our team. I bottomed out a little bit on our lap and I thought that may have slowed us down a bit, but I think it is where we thought we would end up. Tomorrow’s race is all about surviving and getting a little luck on your side, so hopefully we will have both tomorrow.”
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