NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUICKEN LOANS RACE FOR HEROES 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
NOVEMBER 7, 2014

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 7TH
For qualifying, we didn’t have any expectations there. We definitely expected the car to be a little better in practice today. It had such good grip in the middle when we were testing, and that’s where we were lacking today. The balance is off but the team made some good adjustments and especially there for qualifying. That was a good improvement. We just needed another chunk there and we’d be right there. I’m pretty optimistic about tomorrow and getting it right for Sunday.”

EVERYONE IS WONDERING ABOUT RETALIATION FROM SUNDAY AT TEXAS. ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THAT OR ARE YOU FOCUSED ON DOING WHAT YOU NEED TO DO?
“No, I’m just focused on what we need to do and that’s win this race. The biggest statement you can make is to go out there and perform under these kinds of situations, circumstances, and pressure. That’s what this team has been doing all year long – stepping up when it matters most. I’m looking forward to us doing that with our Axalta Chevrolet this Sunday.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CAT MINING CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 20TH
TWENTIETH IN PRACTICE BUT DID YOU HAVE SOME LONG RUNS IN PRACTICE TODAY THAT GIVES YOU CONFIDENCE FOR SUNDAY?
“My first qualifying run was like everyone else – you couldn’t see getting into Turn 1. On the second one, I never got it quite right. We were off a little bit in practice in qualifying trim. I felt like we were decent in race trim. Our first race right off the truck was pretty good for the Caterpillar Chevrolet. Today’s over with. We qualified 10 spots better than we practiced, so if we get 10 more tomorrow we’ll be in good shape.”

WHERE DOES THE FOCUS NEED TO LIE TOMORROW AS FAR AS THE CAR IS CONCERNED?
“Just making it drive good. You only get so many options here to pit and work on your car so you better have it good for that first run.”

WHAT ARE YOU FIGHTING RIGHT NOW? 
“Speed… no we picked up on it for sure from practice so we weren’t where we wanted to be in practice either. Didn’t have the qualifying run we wanted or expected, so just work on it in race trim tomorrow with the CAT Mining Chevrolet and there is no reason why we can’t make a drive and be any faster. We just got to spend the time and figure out. The crazy part is we are a good bit faster than we were here in the first race, but everybody else is even faster than that.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE LACK OF PERFORMANCE IN QUALIFYING HAS PUT YOU IN A LITTLE BIT OF A HOLE? 
“Yeah, it is a hole. Starting 20th is not where we wanted to be starting, but it’s not where you start it’s where you stop.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 3RD
WHAT WAS LACKING FOR YOU IN THE FINAL ROUND?
“I just didn’t hit everything on both laps. I got up the race track a little bit the first lap in Turn One, and on the second lap I got up the track at Turns Three and Four. So I just missed it by a little bit but our Budweiser Chevrolet is really good in race trim and really looking forward to the race. We have to keep tweaking on it tomorrow and know we qualified 13th here the first time and drove to the lead. We have to keep doing what we’re doing, and we’ll be fine.”

ON SHADING HIS EYES WITH HIS HAND IN THE FIRST SESSION
“You kind of have to do that here in Phoenix a lot because you know going down the front straightaway at that time of the day, the sun is going to be really bad. At some point in the race, you’ll probably have to do the same thing. Hopefully the shadows don’t move too fast because that will be the reference point; as you go into the corner you have to look at the ground. It’s just part of this race track. The first time out, I couldn’t believe it actually ran that fast. I way overdrove the corner and thought I was going to go way out of the groove. All in all, our car has been really fast but we haven’t connected all the dots today.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 8TH:
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN
“We started out practice in race trim and we weren’t very good at all. We were very tight. Right before we went to mock-qualifying we made a lot of changes and got the Target Chevy a lot better. I think our car in qualifying trim is better than race trim, but we have still have a lot of practice left to work on it so we should be OK.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S PATRIOTIC CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 15TH
WHAT WERE YOU MISSING IN QUALIFYING?
“We’ve been making some big swings at it to try to get the car right. We came up for a couple of days in tested and didn’t find much. We came back with a different concept and tried to work through that here today, but in qualifying trim it’s not what we need. We’ll go back to the drawing board, work harder and try to find some more speed.”

CHAD (KNAUS) ASKED WHY YOU TOOK THREE LAPS. WAS THERE A LITTLE MORE SPEED IN THE CAR?
“It ended up being our fastest lap. You’d think you wouldn’t go faster with the tires that hot but the car was coming around and had better drive off as I ran each lap. I knew I had to get through One and Two before he called me in, and I thought I’d finish Three and Four. The water temp wasn’t too hot and it ended up being our best lap.”

WHAT’S IT LIKE FOR YOU TO COME BACK OUT HERE?
“It’s great. I’ve already seen a lot of old friends already. I was able to get close to home. I was up in the L.A. area for a few days doing some work. I went to Las Vegas for the SEMA Show and unveiled the ’71 Corvette Stingray I built with Chevrolet. I’ve definitely had some fun. Had a little bit of sun and spent some great time with my family. I’m looking forward to a good run here in Phoenix and getting back to the East Coast. My daughters haven’t figured out that time zone thing and how that works, so there’s been some pretty early mornings but we’ll get back home and it’ll all fall back in line.”

TALK ABOUT WHERE THE CAR WAS AND WHERE YOU GUYS GOT IT TO: 
“We never made a qualifying run in that first practice. We were just working on race trim. Then decided to kind of shut down early in practice and focus on qualifying and get the car turned around. It got us to 15th. We wish we were better, but we will go back to work and try to find some more speed overnight.”

WHAT ARE THE HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS THAT YOU HAVE GOT THAT YOU LIKE OR DON’T LIKE OR IS IT A SPEED SITUATION OR WHAT? 
“This track just doesn’t feel like there is a lot of grip in it. It hasn’t since they repaved it. It might just be our race cars too at times, but we have been working hard to get the front-end in the race track and get it to cut the center. You go into the turn and then pour the steering wheel to it and it starts pushing and then the front tires literally start bouncing on the ground. If we can get that out of the car I think we will be in good shape.”