NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
LENOX INDUSTRIAL TOOLS 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES
July 15, 2012
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET – WINNER
TALK ABOUT YOUR SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON: “The first one with Hendrick Motorsports was pretty cool. The second on is really special to be a part of, especially as good as the HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) cars are each and every weekend. To be able to win two races now, and have a shot at the Chase, we’re still definitely not in it, but we have a better shot now than we did.”
TRACK POSITION WAS SUCH A KEY HERE TODAY. HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT GETTING IT?
“Kenny Francis (crew chief) did a great job. We ran in the top five the whole race, but Denny (Hamlin) was obviously the best car. We had a great Farmers Insurance Chevrolet and we just had to battle hard throughout the whole race. We did it. We had good pit strategy, got the track position, and we were able to lead those final laps there.”
YOU KNEW DENNY HAMLIN WAS COMING AT THE END. WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT IT? WERE YOU LOOKING IN THE MIRROR OR WERE YOU JUST FOCUSED UP-FRONT?
“I was definitely focused on the lapped cars I was going by and how I could clear them quick. But, I lost a ton of forward drive and I was getting pretty loose and Denny was coming on four (tires). So I was paying attention to where he was, but I felt pretty good about the lead we had. Man, it’s been a great relationship with Farmers Insurance. To get a win with them, that’s the first one. Quaker State was on our last win. Hendrickcars.com and everybody that’s been a part of this fast Chevrolet this year, I really appreciate it and thank them.”
THIS IS A TEAM EVERYBODY EXPECTED A LOT OUT OF. NOW YOU HAVE TWO WINS. YOU’RE LOOKING SOLID FOR THE CHASE. HOW TOUGH IS THIS TEAM GOING TO BE NOW AS YOU GET READY TO GET INTO THAT CHASE?
“I feel like we’ve been pretty tough all year. We just haven’t finished them off a lot of the times, but we’ve been there all year long. Hopefully from here on out, we’ll get some more top 10’s and top five’s in a row and from here out we need to stay after it. And it doesn’t get us in the Chase yet, but it definitely helps with a win today and the win in Charlotte. I can’t wait for some of these other tracks coming up.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET – FINISHED FOURTH
ON HIS RACE: “We were just about a tenth off all weekend. We tire tested here, and were quick and real happy with the car, so not sure where it went. Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and my guys worked really hard on the car during the race, we just could get any better than we were. Happy with another top-five, but need to get some better and win some more races.”
YOU SAID IT WAS A LOT OF WORK TODAY. HOW COME?
“We were about a tenth off all weekend. I was kind of surprised too, because we tire-tested here and were super-quick and we were real happy with the car. We just didn’t have enough. All weekend we worked on the car real hard and worked during the race real hard and we just couldn’t run any better than we were running. Track position was real important to us. I don’t know if we had a good enough race car to get back there and race anybody. We’re just happy to run in the top five. We’re strong. We’ve just got to get another notch, you know, and start winning some more races.”
AS YOU LOOK TOWARD THE CHASE, THIS TRACK IS GOING TO BE BACK ON THAT SCHEDULE. WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY THAT YOU CAN INCORPORATE THEN?
“Well, we feel like we run better at this track, for whatever reason, the second time in the season. Maybe it’s the weather or what I like or maybe it’s a combination of the weather and all. But I don’t know. I like coming here. I love running here and the tire is a little slick. But we’ll see how it goes. I don’t know, man, we’re pretty excited about our chances when we get to the Chase, but we’ve still got some things to learn and accomplish before we get there. We’re not looking too far ahead you know; we’re trying to work on one race at a time.”
SO WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON? YOU’RE TRYING TO PICK THIS THING OFF AND SET YOURSELF UP AND THAT’S WHAT YOU GUYS HAVE DONE ALL YEAR. IT WORKED AT MICHIGAN. YOU GOT THAT WIN THAT YOU NEEDED. NOW YOU’VE GOT TO GET THAT CHAMPIONSHIP. WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO?
“Well, we’ve got to run like this. When we’ve got about a 10th place car we’ve got to use good strategy and be smart on the race track and finish in the top five with it and run in the top five every week. You’ve got to win some races too, I think, to win the championship. It just depends, you know. We’re running strong. I’m really happy with how many points we’re gaining every week and what we’re doing consistently. National Guard and Diet Mountain Dew want to be in victory lane and that’s where I want to be too. We just need a tick more speed. We’ve gotten faster. We’ve found speed and improved. You just need a little bit more to really be one of those dominant cars every week.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – FINISHED SIXTH YOU TALK A LOT ABOUT WINS OBVIOUSLY IT’S NOT A WIN, BUT NOT A BAD FINISH CONSIDERING YOU KIND OF TOOK A LONG WAY TO GET THERE? “Yeah, I’m really disappointed in today. I don’t feel like that we had the car that we needed to be more competitive which I thought we could. When we got track position we weren’t able to maintain it. It was just a disappointing day when you look at what our goals are right now. We’ve got to be up there battling for wins if we are going to make this Chase and then get those wins. At the beginning I thought we were equally as good as anybody. I don’t know from that second run on it just went downhill.”
THE PIT STRATEGY YOU TALKED ABOUT YOU WERE IN A POSITION WHERE YOU CAN ROLL THE DICE IN SOME THINGS WAS THAT AN INDICATOR OF THAT TODAY? “Yeah, I think Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) wanted to see what it was like in clean air. It was a risk. That is the position that we are in right now we’ve got to take those kinds of risks. It didn’t work out, but it wasn’t that bad. I think we feel back to third or fourth. We were still about where we were prior to that. I don’t know we just really didn’t keep up with the track. This tire, I tell you, Goodyear has got to go back to the drawing board. They came here with a new tire and it is not a very good tire. I think they know it. I’m hoping that they that they can come up with something a little bit better than this.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED SEVENTH THAT LAST CAUTION CAUGHT YOU GUYS OUT. YOU LOST A LOT OF TRACK POSITION BUT YOU CHARGED HARD LATE.
“Yeah, I’m going to keep my mouth shut on that caution. Anyway, we had a great race car. I’m very proud of this Lowe’s Hendrick Motorsports Impala. There was a lot of speed in the car. It was the Gibbs cars and the Hendrick cars, and at times I was the best Hendrick car running top two, two three. But then that caution put us back in traffic. We still got through there, decent.”
OTHER THAN THE PLATE RACES, YOU’VE GOT TO BE PROUD OF THIS TEAM. YOU’VE HAD A GREAT YEAR.
“Yes, we have very, very strong race team. There is one plate race left and it’s in the Chase when it counts, so hopefully we have all of our bad luck out of the way, plate-wise; and I think we have enough speed on the race track and on pit road to get it done in the Chase. So, I’m real happy with where we are.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 RHEEM CHEVROLET – FINISHED EIGHTH ON HIS RACE: “We finished about where we should have. Our car was really tight to the center of the corner and we never could fix that without making it too loose off. Everyone on our Rheem Chevy did a good job we kept digging and got lucky there at the end ran out of gas at the start/finish line so a good day.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 ARMY ROTC CHEVROLET – FINISHED 10TH ON HIS RACE: “We just had a 10th place car today that was the bottom line. We just never could get it better. We got it better than that at times, but it was never consistently through a run. We just on average had a 10th-place car that is what we got out of it. Not a good point’s day for us, it was a good finish, a decent finish, but not what we needed.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 DEGREE CHEVROLET – FINISHED 25TH “To tell you the truth today was rough. We struggled all weekend with the handling and we hoped we had figured something out for the race but it was still off. I had hoped to have a good run for Degree Men. It’s not the way we wanted things to go today.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/ALLSTATE CHEVROLET – FINISHED 20TH “Today was a tough day for our Bass Pro Shops team, but our guys worked hard to make adjustments and get the car handling better. We battled some handling issues early on in the race but we never gave up and brought home a lead lap finish.”
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