MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE
TEAM CHEVY ‘OPEN’ QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 17, 2019
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL ‘OPEN’ QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Daniel Hemric, No. 8 Caterpillar/Bass Pro Shops Camaro ZL1
3rd William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Autoguard Camaro ZL1
6th Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1
7th Kyle Larson, No. 42 Advent Health Camaro ZL1
8th Chris Buescher, No. 37 Kroger Your Personal Pit Stop Camaro ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL ‘OPEN’ QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Daniel Hemric (Chevrolet)
2nd Michael McDowell (Ford)
3rd William Byron (Chevrolet)
4th Daniel Suarez (Ford)
5th Paul Menard (Ford)
FS1 will telecast the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway live at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, May 18. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR/BASS PRO SHOPS CAMARO ZL1 – OPEN Qualifying Pole Winner:
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHANCES TOMORROW NIGHT?
“I feel good about it. Obviously, having speed with as short as the stages are, hopefully we can lock this Bass Pro Shops Camaro with Caterpillar’s help, the ZL1, in as far as the All-Star goes, but we’ve got to have a solid first stage. I’m proud of these guys. I said on the radio this is the first box checked for the weekend. You’ve got to bring the fastest race car you can, and we’ve done that. Hopefully we can do our jobs tomorrow and do what we need to do to get in the All-Star race and really have some fun.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICK AUTOGUARD CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 3rd in OPEN Qualifying
DID YOU FEEL GOOD OUT THERE?
“It was okay. I think as far as the track, the conditions are a lot slicker than what we were expecting, just with the temperature in the track. It’s a handful out there, so I think the Open race will be a handful for sure drive-ability-wise. We were just trying to position ourselves to get a good spot and hopefully get out front and try to drive away and get an easy way into the All-Star race.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 6th in OPEN Qualifying
HOW DIFFERENT DO YOU THINK THE OPEN WILL BE?
“I think it will be normal with this package. I think it will be interesting and it will be about like it has been everywhere else, with the exception of Kansas.”
WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE WITH THREE- SECOND PLACE FINISHES? HOW DO YOU BALANCE THE FACT THAT YOU GUYS WERE A MILLION MILES FROM SECOND PLACE AWHILE AGO AND NOW YOU’RE FRUSTRATED WHEN YOU DON’T WIN?
“The first one was cool, the second one was cool, and the third one was frustrating. We’ll try our best to keep improving. If we can continue to capitalize and put ourselves into positions to be up front, then I think we’ll have a shot at winning one. It’s good to be in that position.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 7th in OPEN Qualifying
THOUGHTS ON THE RUN:
“We improved our time; it looks like we improved by a couple of spots. That’s good.”
HOW AGGRESSIVE WILL EVERYONE BE RUNNING THE OPEN?
“It’s always really aggressive. I think the Open is typically a more exciting race than the All-Star Race because guys are going for it just trying to get in. I wish I wasn’t in it, but we will try to be aggressive and get us in.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 KROGER YOUR PERSONAL PIT STOP CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 8th in OPEN Qualifying
HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT TODAY’S QUALIFYING RUN?
“It was pretty good to get our Kroger Your Personal Pit Stop Camaro into that second round. I tried to run a little bit higher, but I probably didn’t need to. It’s still a respectable start for the Open and I think we have a good shot in getting into the All-Star Race.”
DID YOU SEE MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE WITH THE NEW PACKAGE?
“We haven’t been here with this style of package since this race last year when we tried out the current package, so I can’t say that I have a lot to compare to currently. I don’t remember yesterday very well, so this race last year was a long time ago. We are getting the hang of it. There are definitely some differences.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 10th in OPEN Qualifying
“Our second practice was not very good at all. Turn 3 and 4 is treacherous under the sun. So, I left a little out there because I expected this thing to take off on us up the hill, but it didn’t. So my guys did a great job from practice to qualifying trim. It’s not much different with these, whatever you want to call them. It hasn’t really changed much for us.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO MILITARY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 14th in OPEN Qualifying
“It’s going to be pretty easy wide-open. It’s going to be a matter of whether you brought a trimmed-out race car, low drag or not. We kind of went on the less downforce, less drag side of it at Kansas and I don’t want to run that again. I don’t know where we’ll end up. Hopefully somewhere in the top six would be good. But, I think we’re going to race really well. I’m really happy with the way the car handled in practice. We ran wide-open for quite some time in practice, so I think that’s going to come in to an advantage tomorrow.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
