MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
CONSUMERS ENERGY 400
TEAM CHEVY QUALIYFING NOTES & QUOTES
AUGUST 9, 2019
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
3rd William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1
4th Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1
6th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Camaro ZL1
7th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet Accessories Camaro ZL1
11th Daniel Hemric, No. 8 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Camaro ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Brad Keselowski (Ford)
2nd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3rd William Byron (Chevrolet)
4th Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)
5th Clint Bowyer (Ford)
NBCSN will telecast the 203-lap Consumers Energy 400 live at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, August 11. The NBC Sports Gold app will stream the race and live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES:
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 3rd
“For us to qualify third is really good. We started the day here kind of 1th to 13th, so to make that improvement is really good for us. I feel great about it, honestly. I feel like the guys have worked super hard and we just need a good weekend. I think if we start up front we’ll have a really good shot at it.”
WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT CREW CHIEF, CHAD KNAUS, ENCOURAGING YOU TO ‘GO GET HIM’ (KYLE BUSCH) AT THE GLEN LAST WEEK? DID YOU AND CHAD DISCUSS IT AFTERWARDS?
“Ultimately, I’m driving the race car and I’ve got to make the decisions. So, even if he tells me something to do, I ultimately make the decision. And, so it’s up to me. Obviously it’s my space and everything. I felt like I was done a little wrong and that’s kind of how I handled it. Unfortunately, it cost me a lot more. So, I learned from that, for sure.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 4th
“There’s not a lot of driver skill or driver anything involved in that one. You just hold it wide open and it’s really a showcase of the car that the team brought. I’m very proud of that. I’m excited to go racing. We had such a good race car here earlier this year. And we’re starting toward the front and it will be a good one.”
DO YOU THINK YOU NEED TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE? NOT SURE IF THAT’S GOOD OR NOT
“Yeah, I don’t know. Last week we ran out of fuel. I’m not quite sure what we could have done more aggressively. We were really aggressive with strategy, and look where it got us. So, that’s just part of it. We’ve been trying things these last couple of weeks and they’ve been biting us here and there. I’m just excited to be back at a race track where I feel like I’m pretty good at with obviously, a really strong race car.”
DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 11th
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR RUN TODAY AND WHAT DO YOU GUYS PLAN TO WORK ON TOMORROW DURING PRACTICE?
“I feel good where our Bass Pro Shops ZL1 unloaded. We have good speed. Looking at it, some of these guys may have been a little more aggressive here in qualifying and found a little bit more speed than we did, but our stuff has driven good. I’ve been happy with that side of it. It’s just a matter of going into race trim and making sure we can get the balance right for Sunday’s race. But, so far I’ve been happy and Chevrolet has been really fast, I feel like, since we unloaded. That’s a good trend. Hopefully we keep it going.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 15th
BASED ON HOW WELL YOU RAN HERE IN JUNE, HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR CHANCES FOR A WIN ON SUNDAY?
“As good as we ran here in June, which I think was our best race by qualifying fourth and finishing second and running up front all day, this weekend will tell us a lot about how we’ve improved and what direction we thought we had then, which was a solid finish, but also what we’ve chosen to improve on where we stand right now racing here in August.”
ON RECENT AGGRESSION AMONG DRIVERS
“This is that time of year where things are heated because there are guys on the bubble and it could be where it’s a young guy that gets roughed-up by a veteran or a veteran who gets roughed-up by a younger guy. It doesn’t matter who it is. If you in the bubble-situation, that’s the pressure cooker. And I think it’s the same as year’s past in the same style of racing. It’s just being talked about in a different way because people like drama more so than talking about the racing that’s on track.”
BUBBA WALLACE, JR., NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 28th
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT
“Well, we were a little disappointed. Actually, my guys are very disappointed. It’s a brand new piece for us so we don’t know what we’re missing right now. Everything is updated; what we’ve been wanting for a really long time and still kind of going to be the same speed. We’ll go over it tonight and get our Victory Junction Chevrolet tuned-up for tomorrow. Qualifying is what it is. But, I’m focused on race runs and getting our package better and finally putting a full race together. We were pretty decent here in the first race and I hit the fence. So, I’m going to just try to minimize my mistakes and see what we can do.”
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About Chevrolet
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