NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 11, 2015
JEFF GORDON LEADS THE WAY FOR TEAM CHEVY AT KENTUCKY
Four Chevy SS Drivers Finish in Top 10
SPARTA, KY – July 11, 2015 –Jeff Gordon led the way for Team Chevy with a seventh-place finish in his No. 24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet SS in the Quaker State 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway. With a new rules package in place and limited practice time due to inclement weather, the Bowtie Brigade took four of the Top 10 finishing positions in the 267-lap/400 mile event on the unique 1.5-mile Tri Oval.
“Kentucky is such a challenging racetrack already and basically the cars just drove really bad right from the beginning and just always drove bad around all the cars,” said Gordon after the race when asked about the new rules package. “It didn’t change a whole lot when you are around other cars. I don’t know. I think we have to give it a try somewhere… we’ve got to get the right tires on it. The only way you can make a low downforce package work is to have the proper tire on there. I’m glad we tried it. I’m looking forward to trying it again. I’m looking forward to trying what we are going to have at Indy too.”
Defending Sprint Cup Champion, Kevin Harvick, who finished eighth in his No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevy SS, holds a 68-point lead in the current standings over six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, who took the checkers in his No. 48 Lowe’s Pro Services Chevy SS in the ninth position. Kurt Busch, with two wins this season in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS, finished 10th.
Kyle Busch (Toyota) was the race winner, Joey Logano (Ford) was second, Denny Hamlin (Toyota) was third, Carl Edwards (Toyota) finished fourth, and Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was fifth.
The next stop on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 19.
POST RACE QUOTES:
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AARP MEMBER ADVANTAGES CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 7TH
ON HIS RACE:
“As usual in Kentucky it is never easy. The team did a really good job. We had to fight through a few handling issues and some restarts and pit road and a bunch of things, but there at the end everything kind of came together. We got the car working really well, got a couple of good restarts and a good pit stop. It was a solid evening. It wasn’t a winning evening, but I’m still real proud of the effort.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CHANGES IN THE PACKAGE?
“It’s hard to gauge at this place. It is such a challenging racetrack already. Basically the cars just drove really bad right from the beginning and just always drove bad around all the cars. It didn’t change a whole lot when you are around other cars. I don’t know. I think we have to give it a try somewhere… we’ve got to get the right tires on it. This is not the right tire. It is still way too hard. It doesn’t have near enough grip at the beginning of a run. It doesn’t really fall off. The only way you can make a low downforce package work is to have the proper tire on there. I’m glad we tried it, did a little more work, I’m looking forward to trying it again. I’m looking forward to trying what we are going to have at Indy too.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER/JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 8TH
THOUGHTS ON THE NEW PACKAGE:
“We were definitely sliding around more often on restarts, but as you got going the cars just kind of got spread out and I thought the gaps were a little bit bigger. Definitely a lot of information to take away from this and looking forward to Indy in a couple of weeks to see what we take away from there.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS NIGHT:
“We had to battle pretty hard. Not the result that we wanted, but we can’t be disappointed with 10th. All-in-all the car started off loose on lap 1 of practice and stayed loose. We never really got the rear end secured. The only thing we could do is make the front end chatter. So it was a tough balance between front and rear. It was fun to drive when we were all on restarts. Overall pleased with the package. I know we can do a little better job on the Haas Automation Chevy, but thanks to Monster, State Water Heaters, Mobil 1, Rush Truck Centers, everybody. When NASCAR throws rules at you, you’ve got to adapt. We didn’t quite adapt to the top five level tonight.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 21ST
ON HIS STRUGGLES WITH THE BRAKES:
“Talking to Greg (Ives, crew chief) we run our typical 1.5-mile brake package and it wasn’t nowhere near enough what we needed tonight as slow as we had to roll through the corner to get the car slowed down. We cooked the brakes real fast, the first run they went to the floor. We bleed them, you saw all that work going on. They got worse and worse and worse and I probably shouldn’t have been racing as hard as I was when we ran into the back of Danica (Patrick). But I went into that corner and mashed the brakes to the floor. I pumped it three times all the way to the floor and then ran into her. There wasn’t anything I could do. It sucks. I don’t like running into Danica because it gets a little too much attention, but I’m sorry for that. Then we came back down that re-bleed the brakes and we put some new fluid in it and that actually helped the car a lot. We were able to at least salvage a reasonable finish, considering what we went through tonight.”
FROM WHAT YOU COULD TELL FROM THE NEW RULES PACKAGE WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?
“I don’t know if I’m the guy to ask. I didn’t get up in there and really get to see what the race looked like. I don’t know. Whatever they want to do we will figure out how to make it handle and how to make it drive good. A couple or runs there we drove up through the pack. I think when we first started having brake problems we went to the very back of the pack on a restart and drove it up to 13th place on that run there before the caution came out. We had a top 10 car, maybe not a top five car, but we had good speed just no brakes. Really had to take care of the brakes we ran out of pad at the end of the race and it was metal to metal there coming to the finish.”
DANICA WASN’T VERY UNDERSTANDING ON THE RADIO:
“I imagine she was not. I mean what am I supposed to say other than the truth? We didn’t have any brakes going into the corner. I know better than to run into her because it gets so much attention. There wasn’t nothing I could do. I mean as hard as I hit her what the hell did she think I was doing trying to wreck her? We ain’t got no problem. It’s not like we were having a problem out on the racetrack with her. It’s not like I just drew her name out of a hat and decided she was the one I was going to run into tonight.”
HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT DANICA RETALIATING ON PIT ROAD?
“I don’t know. I know that I didn’t have any brakes and it’s hard not to do that if you are in her shoes. But it makes me mad because I didn’t have any brakes. I didn’t do that on purpose. I don’t know. She will chill out. It happens to all of us. I’m not too worried about it. I got a pretty good friend so I think we will be able to talk it out.”
JEFF GORDON SAYS TO MAKE THIS PACKAGE WORK AT A PLACE LIKE THIS YOU NEED A SOFTER TIRE. DO YOU AGREE?
“Yeah, when you take downforce off the car, you have to go to a softer tire. We took downforce off the car and we didn’t get a better tire. Goodyear probably couldn’t get us the tire we needed in the time that we had to come here. When we made the decision to go to this package there wasn’t enough time to come here and test. That tire is not the tire we need for this package. I think they have a little better tire for Darlington, a little softer tire. We will see how that goes.”
ANOTHER RACE AT KENTUCKY, DO YOU HAVE A HEADACHE?
“Well it wasn’t as bad as it was last year. I will say that. I don’t think they have a choice about paving this place. That time is coming and it’s coming quick.”
THOUGHTS ON THE NEW PACKAGE:
“I don’t know. I think whatever they want to do as far as the rules, I don’t care. I don’t think it’s any different or any better or any worse than the other package. The racing looked the same to me. I’m sure some guys liked it. I’m sure some guys didn’t. I fall right in the middle there. Whatever they want to do we will figure out how to make this work if that is what they want to run.”