NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FOOD CITY 500 IN SUPPORT OF STEVE BYRNES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING TRANSCRIPTS
APRIL 17, 2015
FIVE CHEVROLET SS DRIVERS EARN TOP TEN STARTING SPOTS AT BRISTOL
Point Leader Kevin Harvick Will Start Fourth
BRISTOL, Tenn. – (April 17, 2015) – Kevin Harvick led the way for Team Chevy in his No. 4 Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet SS at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) during qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. His lap of 14.966 seconds (128.211 mph) was fast enough to earn him the fourth starting spot for the Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes, Round 8 on the 2015 circuit. This is Harvick’s fifth top-five start of the season.
Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS posted the seventh fastest lap of the qualifying session. Kasey Kahne, behind the wheel of the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS and 2013 BMS winner will start eighth.
Paul Menard scored his second top-10 start of the season by notching the ninth best time in his No. 27 Sylvania/Menards Chevrolet SS; and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10 with a 10th place qualifying effort in his No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS.
Four other Chevrolet SS drivers narrowly missed making it to the final round of qualifying: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (No. 88 Mountain Dew Dewshine Chevrolet SS), Kyle Larson (No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS), Justin Allgaier (No. 51 Auto-Owners Chevrolet SS) and Martin Truex, Jr. (No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet SS) will start 13th – 16th respectively, giving Team Chevy 10 of the top 15 starting positions overall.
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) won the pole, Brad Keselowski (Ford) qualified second, Carl Edwards (Toyota) was third and Denny Hamlin (Toyota) was fifth to round out the top-five qualifiers.
Sunday’s 500-lap race is scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm ET. Live coverage will be available on FOX, PRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 8TH:
IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE A PRETTY GOOD CHEVROLET FOR SUNDAY’S RACE
“Yeah, it felt pretty good with the Great Clips Chevrolet. The first run, I thought was really good. I screwed-up a little bit, but the car had really great balance and a really good feel. The second run, we didn’t adjust and it felt a little free. But we moved on easily. And then the third round, we tightened-up because of being a little free the run before. It was tightened up in too many ways. I just couldn’t put together a fast enough lap there at the end. But, I still felt like the balance in the car is doing everything I want it to, I just had to hold the brake a little too long and slowed my middle down which slowed the exits in the straightaway down, but we were fairly close.”
DURING QUALIFYING THE SPOTTERS KEPT SAYING THAT THEY ARE RUNNING THE TRACK LIKE IT WAS OLD BRISTOL. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT THEY MEANT AND WHERE THE FAST LINE WAS AROUND THE TRACK?
“I kind of felt that a little bit in practice. My first qualifying attempt was through the middle and I just didn’t have quite the speed that I wanted so I ran the next two around the bottom; and I felt like I picked-up when I was down there. The track has been interesting today. To me, there’s been a little less grip up high, compared to what it’s been for a while here. Usually in practice and qualifying you’re a bit higher than what we were today. So, I was a little surprised by that. But it’s still a long ways away from how it’s going to be for race day; and during the race, it will change as well. I think maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe we’ll be able to race all over the track on Sunday rather than just as much on the top. That would be good.”
WERE THE NEW SAFER BARRIERS ON YOUR MIND AND DO YOU THINK THEY AFFECTED QUALIFYING AT ALL?
“My first couple of laps in race trim, I was pretty close to it. And because I was close to it, I remembered that they had made an adjustment to it. After that point, I really haven’t thought that much about it. And, I don’t think it’s really affected anything to this point. Now, we get into the race and we’re racing running side-by-side and all that, it might change things up. But to this point, I haven’t really noticed it that much, no.”