NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD RV SALES 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 11, 2014
CHEVROLET SS DRIVERS CAPTURE SEVEN OF TOP 12 STARTING POSITIONS AT NEW HAMPSHIRE
Six-Time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson Leads the Way for Team Chevy
LOUDON, N.H. – July 11, 2014 – Chevrolet’s Jimmie Johnson narrowly missed earning his second pole of the season, but placed his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS on the outside front row for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion was just six one thousandths of a second shy of winning the pole with his fast lap of 27642 seconds, 137.790 mph.
Fellow Team Chevy drivers Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS and Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS qualified fourth and fifth, respectively. Stewart will start in the top-five for only the second time this season at New Hampshire, where he is a three-time winner. McMurray took advantage of a recent test session at the 1.058-mile flat track to earn his fifth-place starting position.
Martin Truex, Jr. placed his No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet SS in the ninth starting spot. This is only the second-time in 2014 Truex, Jr. will start inside the top-10. His best qualifying effort in 2014 was second at the Daytona 500. Most recent Chevrolet New Hampshire winner Kasey Kahne will pilot his No. 5 Great Clips/Shark Week Chevrolet SS from the 10th starting position looking to capture his second victory at NHMS.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point’s leader Jeff Gordon, also a three-time winner at NHMS, will start from the 11th position in his No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS. He will be joined alongside fellow Chevrolet driver Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS in 12th to round out the Chevrolet power leading the field to the green flag on Sunday.
Kyle Busch (Toyota) won the pole with a new track record of 27.574 seconds, 138.130 mph., and Denny Hamlin (Toyota) will start third to round out the top-five.
The Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday July 13th. Live coverage will be available on TNT, PRN Radio, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
YOU TESTED HERE EARLIER AND ALSO AT ONE POINT YOU HELD THE TRACK QUALIFYING RECORD AS DID OTHERS. TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT, THAT IS THE 13TH TRACK RECORD THAT WE HAVE SET THIS YEAR WITH THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT:
“The cars are fast. This new rules package we all thought it was a simple change to allow for easier officiating without having a minimum ride height in the front, but it has opened up technology in a lot of areas and a lot of different set-ups have spun off from it. In the end we have been able to get the cars lower so you have a lower ride height; it creates more downforce as well and has just made the cars faster. We knew the track records were going to fall especially when pre-season testing started and we are still doing that each week. The good thing is the test we left feeling good about things. We feel like we need to improve some and Chad (Knaus, crew chief) and the guys have done an amazing job and have brought a car that even when I miss my marks a little bit it still produces a lap. In practice I was top of the board and had two tries at it and messed up both of those laps and still ended up on top. I was very optimistic coming into qualifying today. I thought I had enough to get it there and then saw Kyle’s (Busch) lap. He definitely put one down.”
A LOT OF THESE RACES THE LAST FEW YEARS ARE DETERMINED BY STRATEGY AS MUCH AS ANYTHING. HOW MUCH OF THAT GOING INTO THE RACE ARE YOU TALKING TO CHAD (KNAUS) ABOUT? OR IS CHAD JUST GOING TO TELL YOU WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?
“We have worked on it especially through our test session up here. We were able to look at scenarios and get some good data on what tires do, what the fuel savings are, how we can go about it and it has opened up our options here during the race weekend because we can just work on speed. We feel very confident in the data we collected. To help yourself out the most if you have a fast race car you can use less brake, roll through the corner and still bust off a good lap and preserve and conserve and all those things. I think we are covering our bases right now. We have the data we need and we’ve got a fast race car.”
HAVE YOU GOTTEN BETTER AT FUEL SAVING?
“Yes and no. I mean it’s not my natural tendency when Chad tells me ‘okay we need to save fuel’ I can then talk to myself lap after lap and do the right things. My natural tendencies are to use fuel. That is just the way I grew up driving.”
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