NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FOLDS OF HONOR QUIKTRIP 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
CHEVROLET SS TAKES TWO OF TOP-THREE SPOTS IN ATLANTA QUALIFYING
Kevin Harvick to start second, Jamie McMurray third in Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
HAMPTON, Ga. (Feb. 27, 2015) – Defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick led the way Friday for Team Chevy with a second-place effort in qualifying for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Harvick, in the No. 4 Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet SS, turned a best lap of 28.608 seconds (193.792 mph) to start on the front row of Sunday’s second Sprint Cup series race of 2015.
Harvick, coming off a second-place finish at the Daytona 500 to lead all Chevrolet SS drivers, was the winner at Atlanta in 2007. Six other members of Team Chevy made the final round of Friday’s qualifying.
“In Round 1 I missed Turn 1, and in the last round I missed Turn 1 again and just didn’t get to the bottom like I needed to in order to get back in the throttle.” Harvick said. “I’m just really proud of everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet for everything that they’ve done. We have a fast car. The No. 22 (Joey Logano) has probably been the fastest in a single-car run, but I feel really good about our car on the long haul and that’s what matters.”
Jamie McMurray was third at 28.633 (193.623 mph) in the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS. It equals his best qualifying effort at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Other Chevrolet SS drivers making the final round of qualifying included Kyle Larson, No. 42 Energizer Chevrolet SS (sixth); Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS (seventh); Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet SS (ninth); Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS (10th); and AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Better than Bouillon Chevrolet SS (11th).
Eight Chevrolet SS drivers did not pass pre-qualifying inspections and thus did not post a lap in qualifying: Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Regan Smith, Jimmie Johnson, Alex Bowman, Landon Cassill, Mike Wallace and Michael Annett.
As a result Mike Wallace and Michel Annett failed to qualify for the Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500.
Sunday’s 325-lap/500.5 mile race is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET. Live coverage will be available on FOX, PRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S/BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
CONGRATULATIONS ON A GREAT QUALIFYING EFFORT. YOU LIKE RACING HERE AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY. IT’S YOUR KIND OF RACE TRACK. TALK ABOUT HOW YOUR CAR IS RUNNING AND YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND
“I think Joey (Logano) has had the fastest one-lap car from what we watched in practice and I thought our car was okay. And we probably had a shot at it; I just didn’t line everything up to hit all the marks there in the last run. So, I did a somewhat bad job in the last run and a really bad job on the first run. So far my scorecard is one in three (laughs). It’s a challenging race track to get it all right. I feel good about where our car is for the long run and look forward to the race.”
WHY DID THE QUALIFYING SESSION DEFY CONVENTIONAL WISDOM IN THE RESPECT THAT YOU GUYS WENT FASTER THAN THE LAST POLE SPEED AND YOU THE POLE SPEED WAS FASTER ON THE LAST QUALIFYING LAP ON OLD TIRES?
“You can just watch the thermometer. I think as you go through the first round, the tires come back with the temperature down like this, the tires come back so easily to their static pressure. I think when you look at how you start the tires and you run one lap, they don’t get as much build and then they come right back to where you set them. So, I think when you look at that and you see how fast the cars are running and the cooler air is so much better for making downforce. But I think that’s going to be a normal trend. Everybody’s been talking about it and telling everybody that those corner speeds are going to be up and in qualifying they’re up 11 mph in the center of the corner. So, that’s pretty much going to be the norm. When you slow them down, going down the straightaway, they’re going to get faster through the center of the corner.”
HAVE YOU WORKED WITH THE ADJUSTABLE TRACK BAR, EITHER YESTERDAY OR TODAY? I DON’T THINK YOU WOULD USE IT IN QUALIFYING, BUT DID YOU?
“Yeah. I used it every practice and every time on the race track. I used it in qualifying; so yeah, we’ve definitely been using the track bar adjuster.”
DO YOU LIKE IT?
“I’m not using it just for fun. It does make a cool noise, but yeah. I wouldn’t be using it if it wasn’t helping (laughter).”
YOU HAVE A MAJOR INTEREST IN THE SPONSOR OF THIS RACE. WHERE DID THAT STEM FROM AND WHAT DO YOU THINK MIGHT BE ACCOMPLISHED HERE THIS WEEK?
“I think when you look at Major Dan (Rooney) and the things that he’s done with the Folds of Honor and we have three sponsors that participate with Budweiser and Jimmy John’s and Outback in the Folds of Honor and make contributions to the foundation. But when you look at the amount of money that they bring in and the amount of money that they spend on these military families to give back it is pretty remarkable. And Major Dan and his group work really to make sure that their using that money wisely. And they work really hard at raising it, too. So it’s just a great organization. Any time you’re around Major Dan, when you get done talking to him, you feel like you’re a better person and you have a little bit bigger bounce in your step. So, the most important thing is usually every time I see Major Dan we win that week. So hopefully we can celebrate at the end of Sunday’s race in Victory Lane.”
LOOKING AT 125 LESS HORSEPOWER AND 24 PERCENT LESS DOWNFORCE, WHEN YOU SEE SPEEDS UP 3.5 MPH OVER LAST YEAR, YOU’RE KIND OF SURPRISED. BUT, WERE THE TEAMS AND DRIVERS NOT SURPRISED WHERE YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT 11 MPH FASTER IN THE CORNER? DID YOU GUYS KNOW IT WAS GOING TO BE PROBABLY FASTER THAN LAST YEAR?
“Absolutely. Every test we’ve ever been to when they slow them down on the straightaway, the speeds pick-up in the center of the corner because you’re just not approaching the corner faster, as fast; so I think the difference is probably 20 mph in a lot of these places in qualifying trim as to how fast you’re approaching the corner. When you take that much power; and the other thing that not a lot of people talk about is the gear. So you’re turning around 9,000 rpm. So that’s probably eight or 900 less rpm as well as the power reduction on top of that. So, when you take that much power and you do that again with the gear, you’re just not going to approach the corners fast and you’re just going to be able to carry more throttle and you’re going to carry more center of the corner speed. This is a unique situation though, because the car is probably making eight or nine percent more downforce just because it’s 40 to 50 degrees cooler than when we were here last year. So that’s really one of the biggest reasons that the speeds are up. That’s the biggest reason.”
INAUDIBLE:
“Yeah, I don’t think they’ll be up as much. You’re talking a 50-degree swing in temperature here. When you’re adding eight percent or nine percent downforce to the car just because of air density, that’s a big change. It’s making more downforce than what they took off probably, compared to how we raced here last year at this particular track from summer time to winter. It’s probably even actually with the spoiler cut off, it’s probably making as much, if not more, downforce just because of the air density difference.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT 13 DRIVERS DIDN’T EVEN GET TO MAKE A RUN IN QUALIFYING?
“I was just happy mine was out there. I try to just focus on my job and do the best I can. If that was one of our cars, you just support the guys and hope you make it. I’ve been on that side of it before, too.”
DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING DURING THE QUALIFYING LAPS THAT YOU CAN MOVE TO THE RACE ITSELF?
“No, not at this place. This is just one of those places where lap 10 is going to be really where you see if your car is going to shine or not. Everything that happens before lap 10 is just getting going. From lap 10 to lap 50 is really where you’re going to make your money. You’ve got to have the car handling good and keep the falloff as minimal as possible. I’m really happy that I’m racing tomorrow’s race because the cars are driving very similar with the power reduction. So, it’s definitely a rhythm-type race track, but there’s really nothing; set-ups are so different and the way you drive it is really aggressive and this place doesn’t lend itself to the tires lasting very long if you are really aggressive like you were in qualifying, every lap.”
AS A FORMER DAYTONA 500 WINNER, WHAT DOES IT DO FOR YOUR MOMENTUM AND CONFIDENCE. JOEY LOGANO HAS BEEN FAST AND WINS THE POLE. DID YOU EXPERIENCE ANY OF THAT?
“I didn’t. My 2007 wasn’t great. We won the Daytona 500 and the All-Star race and I don’t remember much else about it, shining spots about it. But winning the Daytona 500, whether you’re having a bad second, third or fourth week, is going to stick with you for a while. That’s just our sport’s biggest race and it’s just a huge accomplishment and even if you’re not running good it’s going to carry that momentum. In their situation obviously they’re running good and are on top of the heap right now. It’s definitely got the capability of carrying that momentum and can make your season. I think Trevor Bayne is a classic example of that and winning the Daytona 500 has definitely kept him relevant in today’s world.”
BETWEEN LAST YEAR’S CAT AND/OR SQUIRREL OR WHATEVER IT WAS….
“Let’s get something straight. The Atlanta Motor Speedway worker that works in Turn 3, corralled the gray cat that ran out in front of me. He was the first one to come to my garage stall and come talk to me about the car. He’s like, I wish you’d tell all these people that it really was a cat. The gray cat lives in the little shed out there, outside of the corner, and it was a cat. So, that squirrel that was running around is not what ran in front of me. I can promise you that.”
SO BETWEEN THAT AND ALL THE CRAZY THINGS THAT HAPPENED TODAY WITH THE STOLEN CAR, WHAT IS IT ABOUT ATLANTA THAT MAKES THESE CRAZY THINGS HAPPEN?
“You know what? I hope they have a phenomenal weekend because this is one of the greatest race tracks on our circuit. You hear a lot of talk about a lot of different things and crazy things happening and the weather being as cold as it’s going to be this weekend. This is one of the greatest race tracks that we race on. It produces some of the best racing and this race track needs to stay on our schedule because it’s a great place to race. As a race fan, it’s got to be a fun place to watch a race. I love coming here. It used to be cold in Rockingham in week two; and it used to be cold in Atlanta in week three when we used to race here 14 or 15 years ago and long before I came around. There are some strange things happening but it makes unique headlines.”
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The insane people that run NA$#CAR have outdone themselves with stupidity with several not getting onto the track. It’s time for a lot of these drivers to form their own circuit with Bruton Smith’s tracks and several other good tracks that have no cup race.