ASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DUCK COMMANDER 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
APRIL 11, 2015

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S PRO SERVICES CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
FROM THE RECOVERY ON PIT ROAD, THIS WAS DEFINITELY A WORK IN PROGRESS:
“Yeah it was. Forgive me because my voice has been gone all day and I woke up with a cold but just a great, great race car. I just want to give a shout out to all the pros that shop at Lowe’s and to the folks at Lowe’s Pro Services, to Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports and Valvoline because we have had an awesome, awesome start to the year. The end results don’t show it but the great support from our fans, our sponsors…..Gatorade as well and Kobalt Tools. We just kept plugging at it and I think the off-week was good for us to sit down and relax, reboot and come back to the track and they brought me a fast race car that was good all weekend.”

WERE YOU EVER CONCERNED THAT YOU WERE GOING TO GET THIS CAR BACK OUT FRONT?
“I thought we were in big trouble once we restarted. The No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) went up through there and got to the lead. I just couldn’t go anywhere. I got so tight. We weren’t sure if it was a bad set of tires. We felt like we had a set that didn’t match up with us earlier in the race. So, we made no adjustments. We went out the next restart and the car was a little better, but made an adjustment. Then that last pit stop we made the right adjustment. I caught the No. 4 (Harvick) racing with the No. 1 (Jamie McMurray). I was able to get by both of those guys and check out. It was an exciting race. I hope the fans really enjoyed that one.”

TALK ABOUT RACING WITH THE NO. 4 AND NO. 88:
“Yeah, the No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) was making the bottom work, so I was trying to make that happen. The No. 4 (Harvick) all of a sudden was in second and coming hard on the top. So, I moved up top to try and make that work and I looked in the mirror off to (Turn) 2 and I saw the No. 4 in the wall. I figured that was the end of him and then he and the No. 88 (Earnhardt, Jr.) raced each other so hard at the end. Just good fun. I think that the No. 88, the No. 4 all of us that were involved in that there at the end just had a blast. That is how racing should be and I’m so happy the fans got to see that.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER/JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
GREAT CAR ALL NIGHT LONG, WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR JIMMIE JOHNSON THERE AT THE END?
“I just got behind there and Jimmie was fast for those last couple laps and got around us. I got loose coming off four and I got in the wall and just was trying to hang on to where I needed to be. I just have to thank everybody on my Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team for all that they have done and we just raced as hard as we could and it was a lot of fun.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD
YOU SLID BACK NUMEROUS TIMES, BUT EVERY TIME YOU CHARGED BACK FORWARD AND AT THE END OF THE RACE YOU SAID YOU WERE DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T MAKE A MOVE. WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?
“I had (Kevin) Harvick cleared off of two. I had passed him on the bottom and I had a hard time on the top so I wanted to try the bottom in three and four and he beat me around there. I still had Jimmie behind me at that point and I should have pulled up in front of Kevin and made it a little more difficult on him. We weren’t as good as the 48 or the 4 early in the race, but we definitely improved it and Greg (Ives, crew chief) and the Nationwide team did a great job in getting it better. We have had that speed all year and it’s good to get a good finish in the bank because these last few weeks have been pretty rough, but we know what we are capable of. Greg and I are just getting started here and we are right there on their heels man. If we ever get this thing figured out – it’s going to be tough.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA/MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 6TH
YOU GUYS GAMBLED AND TOOK TWO TIRES AT THE END TELL US HOW YOUR NIGHT WENT:
“We did two (tires) two other times in the race and it worked out really well for us. When I cleared the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) I thought we had a legitimate shot at winning. I got checked out it seemed like a straightaway. But once the guys with four tires got clear their cars were a little better than ours and they had better tires. You just can’t hold them up here. The track is wide enough and they were enough faster than me that I really couldn’t even hold them up.”

THE RACE SEEMED PRETTY RACY TONIGHT:
“I think this is probably the hardest 1.5-mile track to pass on that we race at. But the cautions fell right where there was a little bit of tire strategy, guys staying out and guys doing two (tires). I think that just makes for really good racing.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PANASONIC CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 7TH
ON HIS NIGHT AND POSSIBLE BRAKE ISSUES:
“Yeah, I don’t know if I had a brake problem we had a brake bias adjuster that was not functioning properly. We struggled. Early on we weren’t great. We made some adjustments. We got some decent track position; I thought we were going to be pretty good. (Dale Earnhardt) Junior got to the outside of me on a restart. Our car just wasn’t very good right there. I really struggled and we fell back and never regained it. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made a great two tire call there at the end and we ended up coming home seventh.”

YOU GAMBLED LATE WITH TWO TIRES TELL US ABOUT YOUR NIGHT:
“Yeah that was a great gamble, great call by Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and we saw early some guys take two tires and made it work for a short period of time. I don’t know we just struggled tonight. I’m not really sure where we are missing it. I just had my hands full. We were not able to get the balance just right. But we didn’t give up. I’m proud of that. We made it good at one point and then we got off and then we had to kind of start over and got it pretty good there at the end. Great to have Panasonic and Toughbook on board we love their involvement at Hendrick Motorsports.”

LOOKED LIKE IT WAS A BIT OF A STRUGGLE OUT THERE BUT YOU GUYS MADE SOME LATE-RACE GAMBLES TO GAIN TRACK POSITION:
“Yeah, Texas is tough when everything is working right for you. Our Panasonic/Tough Books Chevrolet was just….I don’t know….just trying to get the balance right in it. Obviously our teammates have it worked out because all of them were fast and obviously we have got some work to do and I have got to figure this package out. We struggled and we fought through it and we didn’t give up. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made a great call there at the end to take two tires and that is what got us to seventh.”

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 8TH
ON HIS NIGHT:
“We the Great Clips Chevrolet was pretty close. There were times when I felt really competitive with the leaders and other times more like a fifth-place car. Keith (Rodden, crew chief) did a great job we prepared a nice car. We just left too many wheels loose throughout the race. I think three; you can’t run well when you do that.”

DO YOU FEEL PRETTY CONFIDENT IN THE OVERALL HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS PROGRAM ON 1.5-MILE TRACKS?
“Yeah, I mean I haven’t won any of them, but I know the Hendrick engines, Hendrick chassis have been tough. Jimmie (Johnson) was flying right there. (Kevin) Harvick was flying at times. I felt like we were there with Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.). Dale was really quick at times, except for that last run. I think Hendrick Motorsports and obviously Stewart-Haas the teams are working pretty well. The engine and the chassis shop did a really nice job for all of us.”

MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/VISSER PRECISION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 9TH:
ON ANOTHER TOP 10 FINISH:
“It was a hard-fought night, for sure. We fought the car. We fought track position a lot and had a little trouble on pit road a few times. That hurt us a bit. At the end we had to start doing some strategy stuff to get our track position back and probably gave up a few spots doing it. It was still a top 10, so all in all, it was a good night for us. We’re just missing a little bit of something. The guys are working real hard. We just need to find a little bit of speed to run with those guys.”

WAS TAKING TWO TIRES THE RIGHT CALL AT THE END?
“I think it was based on track position. We had a bad pit stop right before that and lost it all. I think it was the right call. We may have gained two or three spots the other way; we may have lost two or three the other way. So, I’m not real sure. But we’re taking some gambles and they’ve been paying off.”

ON THE SEASON SO FAR
“All in all it’s been good. There are a few cars out there we can’t run with right now. So, we just need to try to get some speed and keep being consistent.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 BUSH’S BEANS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 21ST
ON HIS NIGHT:
“We fought the front end in practice and thought we had fixed it, but the track changes at this place. This place is notorious for – you drop the green and it’s just way different no matter the conditions. We kind of fought the same thing last year actually at this race. So, just missed the front end so bad there was not a lot we could do. The guys worked to try to fix it, but I was frustrated. They tried everything, but you kind of know after about three or four big changes it is just not. So I tried to make the best I could out of it and play all of the strategy of wavearound’s. Glad we got the maximum out of it that was just a long night we have to do better than that.”

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 QUAKER STATE MENARD’S CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined on Lap 222 with mechanical issues
WHAT HAPPENED?
“We broke a water hose, I guess. The main line that goes in the motor just broke. It pushed a bunch of water out. No warning. The temperature gauge never moved. I was coming down the backstretch to pit and was slowing down and it broke. We popped the hood but couldn’t see anything. So, we went back out but then had no power.”

HOW DISAPPOINTING IS THIS WHEN YOU HAD JUST A STRONG CAR?
“Yeah, the car is really fast. The Quaker State/Menard’s Chevy was really good and qualified eighth and I fell back there when I got blocked in on a pit stop, but drove back up into the top 10. The guys always give me good pit stops. Things were looking good. We had decent speed. When the sun went down it came to life.”