NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA TEXAS 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
Team Chevy drivers claimed two of the top-five and three of the top-10 starting positions for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Paul Menard, No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet qualified fourth followed by Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet in fifth.
Regan Smith, No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, grabbed the 10th starting position.
A total of 16 Team Chevy drivers will take the green flag for the 34th race of the season. ESPN TV, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 will provide live broadcast coverage of the 334-lap/501-mile race beginning at 2:00 p.m. CT.
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 QUAKER STATE/MENARDS CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 4TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING: “Big improvement from where we were in practice, really not very happy with the car in practice, we made a couple of moderate changes and car drover really good, I probably gave up a little bit too much getting back to the gas back to wide open but overall big improvement and we will see how it shakes out.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT: “We got a little bit tight, but we still had a good pickup. How close qualifying was, I mean, seven-hundredths off and we were fifth, but still pretty happy with it.”
THERE IS AN IMPORTANCE ON QUALIFYING WELL FOR TRACK POSITION AND PIT BOX SELECTION ISN’T THERE? “Yes. Definitely it has been a good day. To be third in practice and top-five in qualifying, that is exactly the way you have to start the weekend off. We’ll get a pretty good pit spot out of this hopefully. The good thing is we get that and that is half the battle right there. We’re not having to fight through all the crowd to get up there. We’re going to be up there hopefully all day and just keep tweaking on it versus having to get there.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 MYLOWES CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED: ON HIS QUALIFYING 11TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING: “It was good, I feel like we have to be faster to have a shot at the pole, it if officially early, but not bad, not bad at all.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD TRAINED BY TRADITION/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 16TH: ON HIS QUALIFYING: “Pretty disappointed, we have not been really great all day, and we came here with a new idea on the front-end on the car and it is so different that even when we didn’t like it at the start of practice we didn’t have time in the day to change it, so we had to go with it and make the best of it and I have not really been happy all day long but, we got a chance to work on the car tomorrow in race trim, we are going to try and do some things with it, make it better and hopefully we will get it a lot happier than it is.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 RHEEM CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 21ST: ON HIS QUALIFYING: “I don’t think it is going to be great but it is better than we did in practice, but our Rheem Chevrolet has driven good it is just been a couple tenths off, but all in all that is not anything out of the ordinary for us, it is kind of like waiting on your producer (speaking to TV pit reporter), just a little bit slow.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 22nd: ON HIS QUALIFYING: ” It was really good, I was happy with the Bass Pro Shops Chevy, I don’t think that it is going to be a very good lap when qualifying is all said and done but balance wise our car was really good. Completely different set-up than what we have run in the past, it is something the No. 42 car has been working on, and we were very thankful to have teammates today, because we unloaded a long-ways off and we thought they were good and we have put there set-up in with a couple of small changes and pretty happy with the car.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 23RD: ON HIS QUALIFYING: “The car had decent grip, and balance. Hit the race track a little bit, so the time is not going to be great, doesn’t look too bad right now but we know how much faster some guys are going to go later. See where we end up but, it has been a frustrating day today. We just have not been very good, so we have got some work to do.”
About Chevrolet
Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 120 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com .
