NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP 500 – MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 27, 2015
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
RIGHT NOW, THIS TEAM IS JUST KNOCKING DOWN TOP FIVE FINISHES
“Yeah, it was a good run for our Quicken Loans Chevrolet today. I wish we could have been just a tick quicker and gotten that pole, but nevertheless it this is the best starting spot we’ve had and it’s obviously a great place to have a good starting spot. Pit selection is important and close. I’m just proud of the guys and we’ll see what we can do with it on Sunday.”
WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO GET THAT GOOD PIT SELECTION?
“Oh, because it’s even tighter than the race track is, and you see how much we get into each other on the race track. It’s a place where you can gain or lose spots, and you want to have every advantage you possibly can.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/VISSER PRECISION CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 3RD
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT AND STARTING UP FRONT:
“Yeah, it feels good. Earlier today we were laughing thinking ‘eh it’s going to rain out we will start third’. We went through a Chinese fire drill of changing the car to qualifying trim. With that rain and all that stuff was happening and only getting two runs in practice and going through all that and we are still third. So, all-in-all it was a lot more work that way, but another good day. The guys did a good job. The car felt good off the trailer. We got off a little bit in that second round there in qualifying and had to make some adjustments. They did just what they needed to do.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 4TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“I am pretty pleased starting fourth. This is a tough place. You are just out there pushing as hard as you can to carry speed in the corner and the car is sliding around on you. When you have three rounds of that it definitely makes things challenging. That is the best I think we have qualified here in a while. I’m pleased to be starting that far forward.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 5TH
YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE A GOOD CAR FOR THIS WEEKEND
“Yeah, we’re excited about our race car. It’s been real fast. It’s no shock. I’m not the best qualifier that’s out there. I do much better in a race situation. So, to have the car here starting in the Top 5 with this much speed on Friday is awesome. We get a good pit stall pick with that, and we’ll go racing on Sunday in this Lowe’s Chevy and be just fine.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 CODE 3 ASSOCIATES/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 6TH
ON GAINING GROUND AND HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“I definitely think so. We’ve got Code 3 and Associates on the hood this week, Bass Pro and Rush Truck Center, Mobil 1 they have all been behind us. I think last week was big progress. I think Phoenix was too, I just couldn’t finish it off at the end. I think we made gains at Phoenix. We made bigger gains at California. We got a great start to the weekend here. I mean this place is so tough. Qualifying is half the battle here if you can just get a good pit spot and get a decent starting spot to where you do not have to beat the thing to death trying to get to the front, that is half the battle.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 7TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“Yeah that is something new for me (starting up front) here at Martinsville. I was really happy with how that went. Probably more so shows how good of a Target Chevy they brought here because I’m not good here. I’m happy with how that went.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 9TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“Qualifying went pretty good for me. The last couple of times I don’t feel like I’ve qualified that well here. It was nice to be in the top 10 in each session, ended up ninth. I would have liked to have been a little better, but the car feels really balanced. It is just about running a really nice lap.”
WITH THE CHANGE IN HORSEPOWER AND THIS PACKAGE DO YOU HAVE TO NURSE YOUR BRAKES A LITTLE BIT MORE?
“I think you are probably going to have to. The biggest thing to me is usually when you lift here you feel the engine slowing you down as you go into the corner. Today, you don’t really feel like anything is slowing you down except the amount of pressure you are given putting on the brake pedal. That to me is going to be much different in the race.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 BUSH’S BEANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10TH:
THIS IS A GOOD REBOUND AFTER A TOUGH WEEKEND IN FONTANA
“Yeah, I’m proud of the guys. There’s nothing we could have done last week. It’s just one of those things. We had a fast car last week, so I was proud of that. But overall, the Bush’s Beans Chevy has been fast since we unloaded it. We’ll see, really, once we begin tomorrow. I think first practice it will be like 22 degrees. But the platform of the race car feels really good. The guys have worked hard to keep improving. We’re not quite there yet, but every weekend we keep getting better and hope we have 500 solid laps on Sunday.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 14TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“We improved a little bit from last year. Still not good enough, but we definitely made a little gain on it. We weren’t that good in practice and they made a lot of changes. And got us to where we were at least semi-competitive there. Still need to gain quite a bit to get to run the lap times of my teammates. On the second, third, fourth run the car just didn’t have the rear grip to be able to get in the throttle and use all the throttle. We made some small gains.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 TAXACT CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 16th
ON THE RADIO YOU SAID THE CAR WAS A BIT ‘DARTY’ UNDER HEAVY THROTTLE, IS THAT WHAT YOU’LL BE WORKING ON TOMORROW?
“I think a lot of the things are sometimes just qualifying stuff. So, you do whatever you can to get it to turn and roll through the corners as fast as possible. It was a little bit loose in and a little bit ‘darty’ in the center and on throttle, so I think we were just trying to get it to rotate maybe too much. But it was good to have a solid run for the TaxAct car. It’s the first time we’d had it on the car as a full sponsor. It will give us a decent starting spot. I don’t like the outside. I thought I was 15th. I’d rather be 15th instead of 16th, or first instead of second. We’ll move forward and everything has been pretty easy-breezy so far.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER/JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 17TH
“Qualifying has never really been my strong suit at Martinsville. We’re okay in race trim and our Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet will be ready to go on Sunday.”
CASEY MEARS, NO.13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 24TH
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I think it was the transmission. All the axles are in it and the driveshaft is sitting there so I think something in the transmission might have broken. But it broke every gear, so it’s something major. We had a really fast race car. It’s unfortunate because we had a really good car. We’ve got speed at every track this year. Unfortunately we’ll be starting in the back and this is a tough place to rebound.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 26TH
“The Haas Automation Chevrolet was tight on corner exit. It was like the rear end was planted too well. We made some adjustments and went back out for a second attempt, but we weren’t able to improve and advance. We’ve got two practice sessions tomorrow to get it ready for the race on Sunday.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 25 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 27TH
DO YOU FEEL RELIEVED?
“Oh, definitely. That was goal number 1 to get in. So it’s definitely a big relief for us. We’re excited. It’s weird being excited about qualifying, wherever we qualified, 27th, but we’re in the show, our first Sprint Cup Series race with NAPA on board. We’re excited for Sunday.”
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