MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500 POLE QUALIFYING
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 19, 2017
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS – Daytona 500 Pole Sitter
TALK ABOUT WINNING THE POLE FOR THE DAYTONA 500 FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR:
“It is awesome. I am just really proud of everybody at our shop – the Hendrick Engine Shop; the Hendrick Chassis Shop; Hendrick Motorsports as a whole and the No. 24 team for sure. I appreciate all of their hard work. It is great to have NAPA on board this weekend. As I said on TV, the No. 24 team here in the past – with Jeff before and with us here and at Talladega has proved they are really good at qualifying at these tracks. They are always trying to find new things with the body, or with the engine and that is proof that they are keeping up with the competition and taking that next step too. Like I said, it is a testament to them, and I am really proud of what they have done. Excited to get started this season and hopefully we can have a good run next week.”
WHAT IS YOUR AGENDA FOR HEADING INTO THURSDAY AND THEN SUNDAY?
“You just want to have your car to where you are that guy. Everybody always talks about that guy. That guy was really fast. He could make a lane go forward, or he could make this happen, or he can push me to the front. You want to be that guy. For us, we want to make our car be that car, and for me to get more practice on Thursday. I had a good practice today working with Eddie (D’Hondt, spotter). He and I got comfortable again with each other at these plate tracks. It is just all rhythm. I think trying to find that rhythm for next week is big. Try that out Thursday, and try not to tear anything up.”
CONGRATULATIONS ON BACK-TO-BACK POLES. THIS IS BIG FOR YOU.
“Yeah, this is really cool. I’m just happy for our NAPA team and it’s great to have Napa on board this weekend; and a big thanks to the Hendrick engine shop and Chevrolet. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports has done a lot of work this off-season. This team definitely has a knack for these plate tracks as they showed with Jeff Gordon and then last year with here and Talladega. But that stuff doesn’t just happen by staying the same as everybody knows. Everyone is always trying to get better and make their cars better and faster; and the engine shop is always finding new things. So, I think that’s just proof that they’re improving with everybody else and taking that next step, which is really impressive. I’m happy to be a part of it and hopefully we can run good next Sunday.”
YOU WEREN’T ABLE TO CAPITALIZE ON THAT STARTING SPOT LAST YEAR. HOW HAVE YOU MATURED AS A RESTRICTOR PLATE DRIVER TO WHERE YOU CAN SCORE YOUR FIRST DAYTONA 500 ON SUNDAY?
“Well, we finished our first Cup race at Daytona today, which was good. We didn’t win the race, obviously, but we finished. Unfortunately, we tore up a lot of stuff here last year. So, I hope we can just try to get to the end of the 500 next. We’ve obviously got to get through the Duels, first. But, just making it to the end and having yourself in position, obviously, we’d love to have a shot to win this thing. So, it would be great and I think we have a car that can do it. So, we’ll find out.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Will start 2nd for Daytona 500
ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE FRONT ROW FOR THE DAYTONA 500:
“We sure would have liked to have gotten a pole, happy my teammate Chase (Elliott) got the pole, congratulations to the No. 24 guys. They just certainly know how to get the job done at these plate tracks for sure. It will make Rick (Hendrick, team owner) happy to have all of the front row, an all Hendrick front row. We are a little disappointed. It would have been nice to get the pole, but it is good to be up front and starting up front for our qualifying race, that will be great.”
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO THE RACE CAR BEFORE THE DUELS?
“Hopefully, lots of practice. We will just get out there and try to see if we can get some guys that will want to draft and get in some situations and make sure our car is handling good.”
PICKING UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF? THERE DOESN’T SEEM TO BE A LOT OF RUST OUT THERE:
“Well it wouldn’t show up here if there was any. Pretty easy job today for the driver. The car does all the work, but it was a good day. I didn’t know what we had as far as our car in practice. Hard to tell how you stack up against the competition. I knew Chase (Elliott) and those guys were going to find a little bit more, it is good that we did. Usually we back up what we run in the first round at the plate tracks. We found a little more speed. It’s a team effort. Happy to have an all Hendrick front row.”
CAN YOU LAY BACK IN THE DUELS A LITTLE BIT NOW THAT YOU ARE LOCKED INTO THE SECOND STARTING SPOT FOR THE DAYTONA 500?
“No, not with the points on the line. You want to go out there and get them points. Our back-up car is just as good as this race car. You saw it today and seen it in the past. You can have the best car, fastest car, but if it doesn’t handle you are not going to do well in the race. We have to get out there and learn what we need to learn in practice. We have to get in that qualifying race and race and learn what we can there about the balance of our car and try to pick up some points if we can, that would be great.”
BY THAT PERFORMANCE, YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU’VE BEEN OUT OF A RACE CAR FOR 7 MONTHS. HOW GOOD DOES THAT FEEL?
“It feels good. I think the guys are a little bit disappointed. They really wanted to get the pole. I’m disappointed too, but am absolutely thrilled to have an all-Hendrick Motorsports front row. And we’ll work on the balance practice a lot this week and make sure it’s a good handling car for the race. But, it’s a good way to start the week.”
ON QUALIFYING:
“Ain’t much to it. The car does all the work. You just kind of get to the ‑‑ the transitions are kind of important as far as feeding the car into the corner and also running as tight as you can on the apron without bouncing the skirt off the apron or giving up any speed, or just time adding feet to your lap by running high, at least a little bit, can make a big difference. But other than that, the driver, I don’t think he’s feeling like he’s in control of too much. The car is doing most of the work.
“I didn’t know where we stood against the competition yesterday in practice. It’s real hard to figure out what guys are doing, how they’re trimming their cars out, and whether to trust the speed you’re seeing from people. Alan I don’t think had a ton of confidence in what they had yesterday, but when it came time, both of us were able to show up, and it’s good to be on the front row.
“I certainly would have loved to have gotten a pole, but my boss man is happy. I just talked to him on the phone, and he’s got to be thrilled with having his cars up front.”
THOUGHTS ON STARTING ON THE FRONT ROW:
“Well, obviously having seen ‑‑ I spun out twice last year, Alex spun out once in our car. All of them really similar situations. Jimmie had an issue twice today. 24 wreck in the 500, same thing.
“We’re definitely aware of it, and we’re looking at our notes from over the years. We dominated ‑‑ I thought we ran great in 2015, so we’ll look at what we did then and what we’re doing now and sort of go through the process of elimination, and that’s kind of what we’ve been doing until we fix it.
“It’s going to be real hard to get enough practice. We’re going to practice as much as we can, but you’ve got to have guys out there, enough guys out there to kind of put yourself in enough situations to get the confidence in the balance of the car, and so I don’t know if we’ll really achieve that because people don’t really practice that much for this race. They might, considering how the balance is changing with the track and stuff and it’s getting a little slicker. But hopefully a lot of guys will practice. We’ll get out there and practice. We’re not worried about tearing our car up. We’ve got good cars, good backups. So, we’ll go out there and practice hard, try to figure out if we can help our balance.
“Like I said, Greg has already changed a lot of things, going over our notes for the past several years, so that’s built my confidence. I’ve had some conversations with him even today that’s actually built my confidence on us remedying that problem.
“And then the qualifying race, too, with the points on the line, we’re going to race, try to win, so we’ll get an opportunity to see how the balance is working there. If I’ve got any concerns, we’ll try to address it.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 8th
ON QUALIFYING AND THE DUELS:
“Qualifying went really well yesterday and today. I thought the guys brought a great car down here and look forward to the duels to see how the handling is. Obviously, handling was a big deal today in the Clash. The night race won’t be as crucial, but it is something we need to be aware of and start thinking a lot about.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 10th
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“This is the end of the one-car speed part of it. Now we have to make sure it drives good and has speed, and not just drive good, but to drive good for the duration. We saw in today in “The Clash” it was a challenge at times to have balance, grip and speed at the same time. That will be our focus for Thursday.
“We need to get in the draft, get some laps on the tires and make sure the car feels good and drives good, is comfortable and still has speed.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 12th
ON HIS QUALIFYING SESSIONS:
“It was a really good day for Germain Racing and our GEICO Chevy. Every time we got on the track we got faster and faster. It was nice to see that we have some speed. Now we are going to work on getting this Chevy handling right and try to make some friends in practice and in the 150’s that want to work with us for the (Daytona) 500 and just go have fun.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 14th
ON QUALIFYING:
“Decent, I mean that is kind of on par with where we were yesterday in single car runs. Great to see the speed out of the No. 24, maybe we can learn something from that. Certainly, learned some lessons in the Clash earlier and the way we were trying to generate speed. Live and learn and we will get smarter and race better on Thursday and race even better on Sunday.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/PEAK CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 21st
ON HIS QUALIFYING:
“We lost a tenth from yesterday. We did this little chassis change that our teammates did that they thought was better, it ended up not being as good. We knew we didn’t really have a shot at the pole, but we were hoping to get into the top-12 and get a little bit further toward the front for the Duals, that would have been better. I think we will race really well on Thursday, and get a decent starting spot.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 23rd
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“I think for us we will have to race our way and get the best qualifying position we can on Thursday and hopefully survive. There was a lot of, well the No. 48 spun out twice today, so I think when we get a big pack out there handling will be a big deal. If it’s hot and sunny in the (Daytona) 500 that will make it even more important. It will be a typical plate race where survival is key.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICK LIST CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 28th
YOU CUT IT A LITTLE CLOSE THERE IN TECH. WERE YOU SWEATING IT AT ALL IN THOSE LAST FEW SECONDS?
“Not me. My guys were… I think they were practicing for the 40-yard dash if we have to do a relay team. I think they are in shape now. Nah, just part of the process and definitely didn’t want to cut it that close, but trying to get everything we can. We knew going into today that the Kroger Click List Chevy didn’t have a great chance at pole. I think we probably lost a tenth or two not being able to get everything warm inside the car before we went out, but we worked hard and it’s a day that unfortunately is a day that we know we don’t have the best shot to go out there and show what we have. Really looking forward to Thursday. I think we are going to be really good. The car, all the stuff that we have done over the off season… just inside the race car, all the components everything feels smooth. I think it’s going to handle well. It looked like in the Clash today there were a lot of people sliding around, so I think we are going to have a pretty good car that is going to have some grip in it. Looking forward to getting to Thursday because these two days are kind of boring.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 COTTONELLE MEGA ROLL CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 31st
ON HIS QUALIFYING:
“Our single-car speed isn’t exactly what we were hoping for, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. It’s all about getting the car good in the draft, and get it going. It was nice to get in “The Clash” this morning. Would have liked to do it last night. But it was good to get a little bit extra seat time and knock the rust off. The Clash was the first race I finished in a Cup car, so that was nice. Last year was a little brutal. I’m excited to get my Chevrolet into the Daytona 500. We will have a lot of cars to pass, so it will be exciting if nothing else.”
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