MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 17, 2017
EARNHARDT JR. WILL START THIRD IN NASCAR CUP RACE AT PHOENIX
Three Team Chevy Drivers Qualify in Top Five
AVONDALE, ARIZ. – (March 17, 2016) – Dale Earnhardt Jr., was the fastest Team Chevy driver in qualifying today for Sunday’s Camping World 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). Earnhardt, NASCAR’s most popular driver and three-time winner at PIR (’03, ’04 & ’15), posted a final round lap of 136.783 mph in his No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS, to earn a third-place starting position in the 39-car field.
“The No. 88 Axalta Chevy has been good here for several trips, said Earnhardt, Jr. after making his final run in Round 3 of knock-out qualifying. “Alex (Bowman) got the pole here last year, so the car has had great speed and really happy to be able to do something with it, just a little short.”
Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kyle Larson, in the No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevy SS, and Jamie McMurray, behind the wheel of his No. 1 Cessna Chevy SS, qualified fourth and fifth, respectively, giving Team Chevy three of the top five qualifying spots.
Earnhardt Jr.’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet SS, qualified seventh in the order; and Kasey Kahne, who is also a former winner at PIR, was 10th in his No. 5 Great Clips Chevy SS.
Joey Logano (Ford) won the pole position, and Ryan Blaney (Ford) qualified second.
The Camping World 500, Round 4 of 36 races this year, will take the green flag on Sunday March 19th at 3:30 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES:
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 3rd
“The car has been good here for several trips. Alex (Bowman) got the pole here last year, so the car has had great speed and really happy to be able to do something with it, just a little short. I don’t really know what the No. 22 ran (told the speed of the No. 22) ouch, yeah, we didn’t have quite that much speed, but we were close. It’s good to be there. I think we made the third round in three of the first four races. That is definitely an improvement for us over the last couple of years.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 4th
“I’m happy with fourth, but I felt like I ran a bad lap. I think if I could have anticipated what I was going to have a little bit better that final round maybe we would have had a shot. It would have been close, but all-in-all it was a solid qualifying effort for us. Qualifying well is really nice for how these stages work out, so you’ve just got to continue to do that and work on our car for race trim tomorrow. I’m sure the track will change quite a bit and just got to stay on top of it.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 5th
ON THE START TO THE WEEKEND AND HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“We started in race trim today, actually both of our cars did, actually I think almost everybody started in race trim today. I thought we were one of the better cars. Went to qualifying trim and again kind of like a fifth to seventh place car. We qualified fifth and we were good in all three rounds. This is a place that I looked at for the stages that qualifying well is critical because it is so hard to pass here. Happy with that, happy that we will get a really good pit stall, all those just play a huge key in having a good day on Sunday.”
YOU MENTIONED THE STAGES, NOW THAT YOU ARE FOUR RACES INTO THIS, HOW CRITICAL DO YOU THINK THOSE ARE GOING TO BE WHEN WE GET TO RICHMOND?
“Well the stages are huge in the overall points. When you look where somebody has finished the races and they can finish all three races better than you and you can still be ahead of them in points at the end of the day you look and there are some guys that you finish ahead of that beat you in points and there are other guys it’s vice versa. I don’t think confusing is the right word, but it’s different, but I honestly, I like the stages, I think it’s fun knowing when the caution is going to come out and I would be a fan if they wanted to add a couple of more.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 7th
YOU WERE THE FASTEST IN PRACTICE. DID THE TRACK CHANGE OR DID YOU JUST LOSE A BIT OF THE HANDLING IN THE CAR?
“I really don’t think the track changed a whole lot. I felt pretty good about our balance throughout those three rounds. I feel like I lost some time in (Turns) 1 and 2; so, I’m curious to see what I did, if anything, to do that. I’ll go back and look at it. But Sunday is the important day and hopefully we can get it dialed-in for that.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 14th
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“Nothing too bad happened. I obviously wish we could have made the final round, but I think we are just a little adjustment off from where we needed to be there. Qualifying is not my sweet spot and I can’t wait to go racing. So, we will take it.”
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