NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
5-HOUR ENERGY 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 17, 2015
KURT BUSCH LEADS TEAM CHEVY IN QUALIFYING AT NEW HAMPSHIRE
Five Chevy SS Drivers in top 12
LOUDON, N.H. – (July 17, 2015) – Kurt Busch turned a lap of 134.569 mph in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to earn a sixth-place starting spot for Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
In three rounds of knock-out-style qualifying on the track known as the ‘Magic Mile’, Busch was the quickest of five Team Chevy drivers who advanced to the third and final round.
Jimmie Johnson qualified seventh in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne qualified ninth in his No. 5 Great Clips Chevy SS. Jamie McMurray will start the race from the 11th position in his No. 1 McDonald’s/Cessna Chevy SS, and defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick, will start 12th in his No. 4 Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet SS.
Carl Edwards (Toyota) was the pole winner, Joey Logano (Ford) qualified second, David Ragan (Toyota) was third, Kyle Busch (Toyota) was fourth and Denny Hamlin (Toyota) will start from the 5th starting spot.
The 301-lap/318.46-mile 5-Hour Energy 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday July 19. Live coverage will be available on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), PRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
QUALIFYING QUOTES:
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 6TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING SESSION:
“Good qualifying session to advance to each of the rounds and to make adjustments. We did exactly what we needed to do and that last run we had the car right on edge with the front tires and the rear tires hooked to pick up a little bit on that second lap. But we dropped six hundredths on that second lap. If we could have gained six hundredths then that would have put us fourth. It is tight.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 9TH
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF TRACK POSITION:
“It’s really important here. That was a decent qualifying session for us. I had to lift a little off Turn 4 like late exit right up by the wall off of (Turn) 4. So I didn’t hit the wall there that last lap or I think it would have been a touch more. Still a decent run, hopefully we will have a couple of good practices tomorrow for our Great Clips Chevrolet and get it where it needs to be. If you can figure out how to pass here you could run really well.”
WHERE DOES THE CAR NEED TO BE?
“Well that was close. I thought we needed to be a touch freer that final run through the center of the corner to get pointed, so I didn’t need to back pedal on exit. You don’t know exactly how it’s going to handle with the tire build up and stuff as you are going from round to round. I just needed to be a little bit freer there and maybe it would have cut better and got a tenth. But we still wouldn’t have been pole, but we could have been better than where we were.”
LANDON CASSILL, NO. 40 INTERSTATE MOVING SERVICES/PRECON MARINE INC. CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
WHAT DID YOU TAKE AWAY FROM QUALIFYING?
“Definitely the second lap for us was quickest. I almost wish I would have ran a third lap maybe in the second run, we were so close to making the top 12. My car, the balance, was absolutely perfect. Just a little bit harsh riding so it made it a little bit hard to hang onto through the bumps into Turn 3. I think I might have given up a little bit of speed right there. Really a heroic effort for our team. We have really been looking forward to this race because we run so well on short tracks. It’s really cool to see that kind of anticipation pay off.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/VISSER PRECISION CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 15TH
“This track is always challenging to qualify on. We had a good first round and we were second and really didn’t do a whole lot, just slowed down on the second round and couldn’t find the speed. So, it’s kind of a little bit of a mystery right now. The car was pretty loose the first run but we were able to still post a good time. And we really didn’t change anything, so it’s kind of odd.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED – 17TH
“I’m just disappointed in myself, but I like racing here. It’s different than a lot of the race tracks. At a lot of the races we run, there’s another track like it. So, I like coming here. It is tough to pass, which is frustrating. Actually here, qualifying trim is not a whole lot quicker. In practice when we mocked-up, I think we were like two tenths quicker than we did in race trim practice. So, it’s not like it’s significant like it is at a 1.5-mile, but your tire pressures are bumped up so you have more grip. It’s just natural to go faster.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 20TH
HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP QUALIFYING?
“I don’t think that the changes that we made for qualifying were good. You learn with every mistake and we know not to do that and waste a run tomorrow, but it would have been nice to learn it in a practice session, but we didn’t. So we made the most of it. The car was loose, it was hard to handle, it was all over the place. But we made it better each run and went a little bit faster each run; which is something that I can’t say we have done all year long. I think that is a positive for us. It wasn’t a great qualifying, but it was okay. I always feel like if you are in front of that second pace car you can salvage a decent day. I think we have a long list of things we want to try for tomorrow, but we made the most of what we had there and got the GoDaddy car as far up as we could with a car that wasn’t quite handling right.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AARP MEMBER ADVANTAGES CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 23RD
IT LOOKED LIKE MAYBE YOU JUST NEED A LITTLE BIT MORE SPEED:
“Yeah, it’s not been a good day for us with the No. 24 car. We have been struggling getting the car to do what we need it to do. Just real tight through the center, need to get it to rotate, need some front grip, so we will go to work on it tomorrow. It’s disappointing that we didn’t qualify better. We typical qualify well here and perform well here. We will put this day behind us and go work on it tomorrow and get it ready for Sunday.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 26TH
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN YOUR CAR AS YOU GET SET TO GO PRACTICE A FEW TIMES TOMORROW?
“Just really struggling a little bit getting into the corner with the Quicken Loans Chevrolet. Not a good day for our qualifying average here at Loudon. But I guess when you have seven poles you are going to hurt your average at some point. We will regroup a little bit. Not at all the day we wanted for Quicken Loans or anybody else. Days like today make you work a little harder and be a little stronger.”