NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
PURE MICHIGAN 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
AUGUST 16, 2013
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SERTA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SECOND
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“If you’re not running on that edge and somebody is going to find that edge and put it right there. It was a really good lap for us and our Furniture Row guys and the way we picked up speed from practice. I was hoping to get a 35.35 and that’s exactly what we ran and we’ll see where that shakes up.”
IN REGARDS TO HIS QUALIFYING LAP AND THE QUICK SPEEDS:
“These Generation- 6 cars are incredible. Each team has their own way of approaching how to find speed and my Furniture Row guys have found speed week in and week out. Just real proud of them we gained a lot of speed from practice. I was hoping to run a 35.35, I don’t know what that does for mile and hour and we ran exactly that. Some guys might beat us which if fine, but we will get a great starting position from there. Cloud cover is big today and that is adding to a lot of the speed. Last time we were here I think we qualified and the track temp was in the hundred and teens. This time around it is around 105.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
ONE OF SEVERAL CARS THAT ACTUALLY HAD TO WAIT TO GO TO GET THROUGH TECH FIRST. YOU HAD A LEAKY RIGHT FRONT TIRE AND THEN YOU GOT THROUGH TECH. BUT THE CAR DIDN’T LOOK STABLE AT ALL DURING QUALIFYING:
“Yeah, I guess if you’re in the sport long enough, anything and everything will happen to you. I’ve never had a flat rolling through tech before and we had a flat rolling up on the platform and had to put new tires on this thing and come back (laughs). So, with tech going as slow as it did, it put things behind and they’re still trying to get cars through right now. But we had plenty of time to get the car prepared and ready and we were very fast throughout practice today. I definitely had my hands full on that lap. I wasn’t as efficient I guess as I probably should have been and I think I dragged a little speed out of the car but it was a very good lap. And hopefully it will keep us there I the Top 5 and we’ll go racing on Sunday.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CHEERIOS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FIFTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“When I got out of my car, somebody said it was a good job for an old guy (laughs) and I wonder what they’re saying to him (Mark Martin). It was a clean day. We were fast in race trim; we were fast in Q-trim. We didn’t quite have the speed that we needed for the pole. I asked for an adjustment before qualifying and got us a little too further than we needed to go, but nonetheless the car has been great all day. Wherever it ends up, we don’t care. It’s been a good day for us.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SIXTH
YOU WERE FAST IN PRACTICE, BUT MAYBE THIS WASN’T THE BEST DRAW FOR YOU TODAY:
“No, and I don’t mind the draw. Going out early is not the end of the world. The problem is I finished my lap and it cools down. I got in the car; the track was 12 degrees hotter than when we first practiced. And I’m like okay, and if I can back it down I’ll be the same lap time as practice and that’s a hell of a job. And we did and look at this. It’s probably cooled down 15 to 20 degrees. But we’ll see. It’s the luck of the draw. It should give us a Top 10 start.”
ON THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE WON’T BE BACK WITH THE NO. 42 TEAM NEXT YEAR:
“I don’t know where I’m going to wind up. But I’ve got to thank Target because I’ve had an awesome seven years with them here. Everybody on the team has been really good. Chip (Ganassi) and I have a really good relationship. What I’ve been telling people is whatever I’m going to do; I’d better be in a winning car.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“I over-drove the car in Turn 1 in practice and under-drove it in qualifying and you’ve just got to hit it right on the spot. The car’s got a lot of grip. I think the track is even more abrasive than the first trip here. The cars are carrying a little more speed than they were the first trip here in practice and in qualifying. So, there’s a lot of grip and a lot of comfort out there just trying to really hit the lap perfectly and do all those things just right is kind of difficult. But we’re pretty happy with the car. I’d like to have a little more speed but that’s a good lap and the National Guard Youth Foundation car should be good for the race. We’re going to work on it tomorrow and find out.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 27TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP AND HOW HE IS FEELING IN THE CAR:
“I’m comfortable in the car. I tried to get a little too much right there. I got really tight in (turn) one just over drove the car, but trying to get some. Get a good starting spot, but it pays more on Sunday so we will go out there and have a good run Sunday.”
IS QUALIFYING WHEN YOU STEP IN ANOTHER PERSONS CAR MORE STRESSFUL THAN ONCE YOU GET IN AND RACE THE CAR?
“Yeah, it is. It’s just I’m pretty good at qualifying just struggled today just because I over drove it trying to get a little bit more. The car was there, the car was good it just didn’t turn good enough.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 28TH
HOW DOES THIS GEN 6 CAR COMPARE TO THE LAST TIME YOU WERE HERE?
“Everything feels a lot better. The car feels much more stuck out there, which is good. I feel like Hendrick has done a really good job of improving the engine package as well. So, I didn’t really get what I wanted there. I thought we’d have gone quicker. But it is what it is. We tend to race a lot better than we qualify so, I was just hoping we would do all right in qualifying here because we had a nice practice, but we’ll just have to see where it ends up.”
WHERE DID YOU MISS A LITTLE BIT DURING THAT QUALIFYING LAP?
“I don’t know. I felt really good. I was surprised I didn’t go quicker.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 ADVIL CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 29TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“We didn’t take a qualifying run, obviously. We broke an engine earlier and thank goodness we have Advil on our car because everybody had a headache. So take Advil and feel better. The speeds are so quick, the cars are traveling more than ever and we just had the splitter on the ground and you could literally smell it when I went on my get up to speed lap. It’s like wow; it’s going to be a tough lap here. It wasn’t bad. The grip of the car was actually really good, which is encouraging. It just didn’t turn good enough just from the front end being on the ground so much.”
