MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
STP 500
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
MARCH 23, 2019
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
6th William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1
7th Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1
8th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Camaro ZL1
12th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
13th Chris Buescher, No. 37 Kroger Speed Up Your Clean Up Camaro ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Joey Logano (Ford)
2nd Aric Almirola (Ford)
3rd Brad Keselowski (Ford)
4th Kevin Harvick (Ford)
5th Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
The STP 500 is scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 24th at 2 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 6th
REGARDING HIS OUTLOOK FOR TOMORROW AFTER QUALIFYING SIXTH
“I am kind of optimistic, but we have had a rough day. These two-day shows are tough and we started out with a flat right front and hit the wall. Then in second practice we were way behind because we didn’t have enough practice time. The guys made a lot of great changes to get it right going into qualifying. We were really struggling over the bumps over both ends really and getting on the concrete. We will see what happens, should be fun.”
DOES THIS GIVE YOU GUYS BACK SOME CONFIDENCE AFTER THE TIRE ISSUE IN KNOWING THAT YOU GUYS HAVE SOME SPEED?
“Yeah, its good. That sucks when you show up your third time here and you can’t make laps. You don’t expect it to blow off of turn two. It was good to just get that out of the way and get it out of my mind.”
DID IT FEEL LOW WHEN YOU LEFT THE GARAGE?
“That’s the tough thing because here, the air pressure is so low. The pressures are building and you feel like you are on flat tires to begin with, so there is nothing out of the ordinary to feel that way. It was just confusing when the third lap came around. It did the same thing and then it took off. When it cut, it just took off towards the wall. That was unfortunate.”
IF THIS WASN’T AN IMPOUND RACE, WOULD YOU GUYS HAVE KEPT DOING STUFF TO REPAIR?
“With the way the Martinsville cars are with the center of gravity and the weight in these cars, you want to keep your primary. It was really important that we fixed it, but it wasn’t that bad. We had to replace the splitter, the pan, and some of the right front suspension was a little bent. So, no big deal. No chassis damage.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 7th
YOU GUYS GOT A DECENT TOP TEN START, HOW IS YOUR CAR?
“Yeah, we typically qualify around there and we are happy about that. Its actually been a good day for me here and we typically don’t have any good days for me here. Our Credit One Bank Chevy has been pretty balanced and we have been happy about it. Hopefully it pays off tomorrow.”
YOU HAVE SAID BEFORE THAT THIS ISN’T YOUR FAVORITE TRACK. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE THAT KIND OF DISAGREES WITH YOU?
“I don’t know. Its just way different than anything that I grew up racing on. Sprint cars are way different on a half mile or quarter mile than a stock car is like at Martinsville. I feel like I have worked hard here to get the right feel. Just try to always figure out what that feel is. I feel like our car was pretty good today in practice. We struggled on the short run, but it was good on the long run, which is the opposite of what I normally am here. And I am happy about that.”
DID YOU SPEND TIME IN THE SIMULATOR BEFORE COMING HERE TO JUST TRY AND GET SOME EXTRA EXPERIENCE
“Not this time, not the Chevy simulator. I made a handful of laps on iRacing yesterday.”
HAS KURT BUSCH BEEN ANY HELP TO YOU COMING HERE SINCE HE HAS WON HERE?
“Not yet. They have been struggling with their car quite a bit today, so I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him much because he was working with his team to get their car better. I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to him at all this weekend.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 12th
WHAT IS THE KEY TO GETTING AROUND MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY?
“There are certain things a driver can do to make for a better day. But as the rules have evolved, we had a set-up that was so unbeatable and so strong for so many years. And now that there isn’t a ride-height rule, we really haven’t had success since that point in time. Even though we have a lot of clocks and have led a lot of laps here, we’re still trying to catch up to where some of these other teams are. To have three cars in the final round of qualifying in the top 12, I think we’ve improved our package from where we were last Fall, but we still have a ways to go.”
HOW DO YOU THINK THE CAMAROS ARE HOLDING UP AGAINST THE MUSTANGS? COMPARED TO LAST YEAR, HOW ARE THE CAMAROS HOLDING UP?
“There’s something off. I don’t know if it’s team-related; if it’s the Ford teams and the Toyota teams that internally inside their own organizations have the upper hand or if it’s really manufacturer-related. But we certainly haven’t had the speed and pace that we’d hoped to. And I don’t think it’s just one thing. We have to work in a lot of areas. We’ve been playing catch-up for the last 24 months really.”
DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 29th
REGARDING HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT
“I just can’t get into the corner in time to get to the brake before the back of the car or the front of the car takes off. It was one of those challenging days, but the good thing is we go to bed tonight and come back tomorrow and get another shot at it.”
AS A SHORT TRACK GUY IS IT A LITTLE DISAPPOINTING TO COME HERE AND STRUGGLE LIKE YOU DID TODAY? “Yeah, this is not ideal. Nobody has struggled like we have today, but in the grand scheme of things its my first time back here in a couple of years. And Luke Lambert, his stuff tends to be better here later in the runs. So hopefully we can salvage at that point. We just couldn’t get our tires to come in and we were just way too loose. Its not like everybody isn’t doing all they can, we just haven’t gotten it right yet.
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 SYMBICORT CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 30th
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OUT OF THE RACE TOMORROW BASED ON WHERE YOU QUALIFIED?
“Martinsville is usually a lot of beating and banging and trying to have a car that can hug that curb the longest. Hopefully we will be one of those people and we can find a way to get track position pretty early. We have a good race set up and this is where I normally qualify and start here.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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