Chevy Racing–Loudon–Post Qualifying

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAMPING WORLD RV SALES 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 12, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS –SECOND PLACE QUALIFYING TIME WAS DISALLOWED BY NASCAR FOLLOWING POST QUALIFYING INSPECTION. JOHNSON WILL START SUNDAY’S RACE FROM THE 43RD POSITION. QUOTE WAS PRIOR TO RULING.
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“We had two small issues one with the side skirt height missed it by a sixteenth of an inch.  Then I think a pound of weight was missing or wasn’t right on the right-side weight.  We had to go through twice and that is usually big trouble for teams.  We were able to get it done quickly and get out just in time.  With all that being said it just added a lot of stress to my qualifying lap.  I knew through (turns) three and four coming to the green that I had a fast Lowe’s Chevrolet and was able to get in a good lap and almost got us a pole.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SEALY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“It’s one of those interesting laps.  I was on the rev chip so early I was like ‘we must be going that fast’ or we even dialed our rev chip back too far.  These guys are just incredible.  The things that they are finding and the speed we are bolting on just got to thank Barney Visser, (Joe) Garone, everybody is working hard.  They are great at finding speed, Todd (Berrier, crew chief) is great at managing it, we are parked here with the No. 48 and No. 2 after a weird lap, so that means we are doing okay if we can manage all this weirdness and still be fast.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FOURTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“Yeah I’m real happy with the lap.  I think it could have been better.  We struggled a little bit through (turns) three and four on the first lap, but the car has been fast. Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the guys and myself we have been real pleased with the speed the car has had all day in practice.  So, we were anticipating having a good lap and hopefully that will stick around and give us the pole.”
 
I KEEP WATCHING YOU LOOK AT THE BOARD EVERY TIME ANOTHER CAR GOES BY.  YOU WANT THAT POLE DON’T YOU?
“Yeah, we don’t really do that well in qualifying.  Haven’t in the past several years and we got the pole over there in Kentucky and to get a pole here I think that would give our team some momentum and give us some confidence that we really need to sort of get into these next several race before we get to the Chase.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SIXTH
THAT WAS A NICE RUN. IT SHOULD MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD
“It felt like a possible pole-running lap. It was off a little bit more than I anticipated but all in all, it was a good solid run. The car did the things that I wanted it to do and maybe looking back on it, it was just a little bit freer than what we anticipated. But yeah, that’s good.”
 
DID YOU WORK ON YOUR QUALIFYING RUNS DURING PRACTICE?
“No, we worked on race stuff; just trying to get prepared for Sunday. And that didn’t go so well, so when we switched over to qualifying trim, that last run we made was pretty close and I felt good about it and I knew we had something to work with.”
 
YOU SAID YOU NEEDED TO WORK ON QUALIFYING. DID YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT?
“Well, short track qualifying is a lot different than a 1.5-mile track where we’ve been struggling. So, we’re just trying to get the set-ups to match my style and get as much grip in the car as possible. It seems like every time we qualify we’re just a little bit too loose. So, today is completely different. The short tracks, we’ve actually done pretty well qualifying here. We’ll just see how it goes at Indy in a couple of weeks and the 1.5-miles after that.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED NINTH
HOW WAS YOUR RUN?
“It felt really goof. I wouldn’t change a whole lot. I would just ask for a cloud like the two guys in front of me and I think it would have been better (laughs). I feel good about where we’re at. We just did two qualifying runs today in practice is all we did.”
 
HOW IS THE CAR IN RACE TRIM?
“We’re going to work on it tomorrow, but it seems like it’s close.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 19TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“Just a little free on that end and probably didn’t quite get what I needed to on this end.  All in all it was three tenths better than practice for our Budweiser Chevy.  The guys have done a good job.  I feel good about our car in race trim and hopefully the sun comes out that would be great for us at this particular point.”
 
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT FOR YOU TODAY ARE YOU GLAD TO KIND OF HAVE IT ALL JUST KIND OF OUT OF THE WAY?
“Well, yeah I feel like obviously we are excited about everything, but there is still the task at hand to race this car for RCR and all these guys as fast as we can go every particular week and try to win races.  Hopefully, we can get through these next few weeks and be in the Chase like it looks and race them hard for the championship.  Hopefully, all the little chitter chatter and everything that has been surrounding everything is gone and we can move forward.”