NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CAN-AM DUEL #1
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 18, 2016

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
TALK ABOUT THE PASS FOR THE LEAD AT THE END?
“I really don’t know. Denny (Hamlin) is such a great plate racer. There are a lot of guys that are really good at it these days. I knew he was going to be real tough to get around. When he got the lead I didn’t know if we were going to be able to get around him. He has got a great car and he is real smart. For whatever reason I was able to get to his quarter-panel, he saw we had a pretty good run. I don’t know, I didn’t think I was going to clear him. We got away from him so he couldn’t side draft us I guess. You will have to talk to him how it worked out for him. I was really surprised as anybody that we got by him. He will be tough on Sunday.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT YOU CAN TRANSLATE TO SUNDAY?
“Just a little bit more speed from a lot of guys. We’ve got a great race car. Our Nationwide Chevy has been flawless all weekend. I hope Greg (Ives, crew chief) and those guys learned some stuff. We saved fuel on all the cautions just to get a number on that and try to understand what that will be like Sunday. We are doing things out there that we are trying to prepare ourselves for a good race on Sunday. I was so nervous all week to get this through the qualifier. I want to win the race, but man, we don’t have as good a car as this in the trailer. It’s a good car, but this is a special, special racecar. We are going to give it all we’ve got on Sunday.”

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE REMAINING PRACTICES?
“We will draft very minimal. We may do a lot of single car stuff. He has probably got a list of things he wants to go through. But we won’t really get out there and mix it up too much. We definitely want to take care of this car. I put a car on the pole here and wrecked it in practice. You can wreck anytime out there in practice. Anything can happen to you. We won’t get out there too much.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN MOST ABOUT ‘AMELIA’ FOR THE 500?
“We knew it was a really good car. A lot of people don’t talk about it but it won the 150 last year, so it’s got three wins, a second and third. Another win at Daytona for the Earnhardt’s. We keep adding to the legacy. We’re up there in the 50’s now with all the wins so I’m real glad to be able to do that. It was fun race. I did a lot of blocking tonight. Nothing too crazy. I’m glad it didn’t have to get that way. I was just defending those guys and the moves they were putting together. It was a real challenge. There are some great cars out there. There are some really, really good guys out there that are starting to become really good on these plate tracks. Joey (Logano) is always up there, Denny (Hamlin) is tough. You see the same guys up there all the time in the last several years. They’re hard to hold off. It’s getting harder and harder.”

IT SEEMED LIKE YOU AND DENNY (HAMILIN) WERE BOBBING AND WEAVING FOR A COUPLE OF LAPS. WHAT AS THE DIFFERENCE THAT ALLOWED YOU TO GET AROUND?
“I really don’t know. Denny is such a great plate racer. There are a lot of guys that are really good at it these days. I knew he was going to be really tough to get around. When he got the lead, I didn’t know if we were going to be able to get around. He’s got a great car and he’s real smart. For whatever reason, I was able to get in his quarter-panel, and he saw we had a pretty good run. I didn’t think I was going to clear him, but we got around him so he couldn’t side-draft us, I guess. You’ll have to talk to him. I was as surprised as anybody that we got by him. He’ll be tough Sunday.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT THE RACECAR OR RACETRACK FOR SUNDAY?
“Just a little bit more speed from a lot of guys. We have a great car. Our Nationwide Chevy has been flawless all weekend. I hope Greg (Ives) and those guys learned some stuff. We saved fuel on all the cautions just to get a number on that and try to understand what it will be like out there Sunday. We were doing some things to make us prepared for things out there for a good race on Sunday. I was so nervous all week to get this car through the qualifier. I want to the race, but man… we don’t have as good a car in the trailer. I mean it’s a good car but this one is a special, special racecar. We’re going to give it all we got on Sunday.”

WITH SEVERAL MORE PRACTICES TO GO, WHAT DO YOU DO TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THIS CAR FOR SUNDAY?
“We’ll draft very minimal. We may do a lot of single-car stuff. (Greg) probably has a list of things he wants to go through. But we won’t really get out there and mix it up too much. We definitely want to take care of this car. I put a car on the pole here before and wrecked it in practice; you can wreck any time out there in practice. Anything can happen. So we won’t get out there too much. We’ll trust that we have great balance. The race will be run during the day, and the balance will be a little more tricky. I think we have good balance on the car.”

GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS:
“Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports does a great job of working together. Everybody at the engine shop and chassis shop – the 5, 24, 48 and 88 are working great together. I couldn’t be more proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports to give me this opportunity to bring such a fast race car. You can tell by Dale’s enthusiasm that he’s happy too.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 4TH
THOUGHTS ON HIS CAR FOR THE DAYTONA 500:
“I’m really happy. We went through the field on that particular occasion and raced up at the front. We had a couple of little handling things that we could make better, but all-in-all really happy, just for the fact we could pass cars, maneuver and the handling was good. There were a lot of cars where the handling was starting to go away. So, in the mix, that is what we needed to do.”

WHEN YOU SEE DALE, JR. MAKE A MOVE LIKE THAT DO YOU SAY ‘OH MAN HE’S GOING TO BE TOUGH TO BEAT ON SUNDAY’?
“I think you know he is going to be tough to beat. He has been really fast on all of these race tracks for the last couple of years, more than that, but extremely fast for the last couple of years with this particular rules package. You knew he was going to be one of the cars to beat. I think it will stay that way. I think we have enough speed to stay right up there and keep ourselves in the mix.”

HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO WHERE YOU WERE AT THIS POINT IN YEAR’S PAST?
“I feel like we have more speed this year than we have had the last couple of years. But we lost this race by about eight inches a couple of years ago. Well, I guess we go thrown out after that one didn’t we? But we still we were right in the mix. That is what Rodney (Childers, Crew Chief) and I were just talking about. The speed part of it is pretty good. It’s not easy to just drive through the pack unless you have a car that is capable like the No. 88 or the No. 11 or one of those faster cars. It’s not like we got hung in the middle of the pack. We were able to make moves and maneuver ourselves.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 6TH
ON HIS RACE:
“Just a lot of things learned for me. I got into positions, had a few things happen that I should have stopped before they did happen. The top was pretty dominant. I felt like whichever lane Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) was in was moving forward. He was really fast. He just does a good job working the air. That is just something I struggle with.”

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST THING YOU LEARNED TONIGHT THAT WILL HELP YOU ON SUNDAY?
“I think you’ve just got to be aggressive with the side drafts and keeping guys pinned down at times. Just being mindful of which lane is forming up ahead of time. I think the good guys make that happen and they can recognize that and I just didn’t tonight.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 11TH
ON THE PIECE THAT WAS HANGING OUT OF THE REAR OF THE CAR DURING THE RACE:
“I have no clue what it was. Probably ran over something. I’m proud of my guys they put a lot of hard work and effort into this Dow Chevy. We gave it all we had. I was hoping for a win tonight. I was definitely trying to be as aggressive as I could. Just got put in the middle and went to the back.”

WERE YOU ABLE TO LEARN ANYTHING?
“I learned that the No. 88 car is unreal fast. I learned that the No. 11 car is really fast and the Penske cars are fast too. Just got to keep working on our stuff. I feel like we are right there. We can be the second car in line it struggles to be the first car leading the pack. That is our next step for our group is to work on one position forward. When you get out front you can dictate the race because you can move line to line. The No. 88 he was kind of playing with us out there it was pretty wild to watch him move side to side and still not lose momentum.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, NO. 59 TRIVENT FINANCIAL CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH.
Earns starting spot in the Daytona 500
YOU’RE IN THE DAYTONA 500. WHAT ARE YOUR EMOTIONS?
“It wasn’t an easy race by any means. The No. 30 car of Josh Wise did an incredible job. He was up there all night. When ((Ryan) Blaney dropped out, it really changed the strategy going forward. I was racing Cole (Witt) hard coming off pit lane. All the scenarios you didn’t want to be in, I felt like we were in tonight. And there at the end, we got in the right lane at the right time and we were able to lock ourselves into the show. It’s just so big for our team, the Circle Sport/Leavine Family Racing, to get the Chevrolet in the 500 and to have both of the Leavine Family Racing cars in the 500 with Ty Dillon in the No. 95, it’s very special. I’m just thankful for all our partners Thrivent Financial and KLove, they’ve been with us a lot of years. We’ve missed some of these races before and been on the other side. So, we don’t take it for granted. We are thankful. And, we race on Sunday.”

WITH ALL THE WORK THAT GOES INTO THESE CARS WHEN YOU COME DOWN HEAR, WITHOUT A CHARTER, AND WITH ALL THE STRESS AND ALL THE WORRY, AND THAT’S LIFTED. NOW YOU CAN FOCUS ON THE 500. TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR SUNDAY
“I learned a lot. You’ve got to be careful in practice and there; actually, you’re flat out. I got a feel for what we need to do and adjustments we need to make for the 500. Now we can focus on getting our race package in there and the 500 is a free day for us. We’re going to race as hard as we can and try to get to Victory Lane.”