NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 1, 2016

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
THIS IS YOUR BEST START OF THE YEAR. HOW GOOD DOES THAT FEEL?
“It feels good. The car was really fast, this Great Clips Chevrolet. The guys did a nice job in practice and in qualifying. I just kept getting better with my laps. We didn’t make any adjustments. The car is fine. Just let me get my laps a little better. So we did that, and it was close. Joey (Logano, pole winner) just barely got us. But it is definitely a good starting spot. That was one of my goals today was to help out on pit road. Pit road is huge here. We have the best pit crew for stops, than anyone, in my opinion. And if I can help them on pit road, myself, and get a better spot, I think all that will be beneficial on Sunday.”

WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR SUNDAY’S RACE?
“I feel good about it. We had a top-10 here the last race, last year; with the back-up car because I crashed it in qualifying and this car is better than our primary car was last time. These guys are always building better cars, so that’s the known. But I feel good about the car and we just need to work through it tomorrow in practice and get it driving the best we can for long runs.”

BRIAN VICKERS, NO. 14 JANSSEN/ARNIE’S ARMY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 3RD
FINALLY YOU GUYS HAVE BACK-TO-BACK RACES. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE THIS WEEKEND? IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYTHING IS JUST HOOKED-UP
“It takes a few weeks to get a rhythm with the team and everyone on this team has done a great job. Mike (Bugarewicz, crew chief) builds a great team. Stewart-Haas gave us a great race car. And we were happy with it all day. I’m pleased, but not satisfied. We wanted the pole. And when the No. 22 ran a .51, I thought we could beat that. We made a small adjustment there and it was my call. Maybe it was right. Maybe it was wrong. We just need a little more. But, it’s still a pleasure to put this car in the top three for me, on behalf of Tony (Stewart) and this whole team. And I said it earlier. Having Janssen on the car is very special to me. It’s race awareness for clots and encourages people to go see a doctor; it’s a mistake I almost made once, and I won’t make it again.”

ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“The guys did a really good job. We were so close; the No. 22 (Joey Logano) was really strong. I thought we had it when he ran a 51 (19.51) I thought we could beat that. We made a small adjustment going into the last round and I don’t know maybe that hurt us a little bit. It is so tight. We are fighting for hundredths of a second, thousandths of a second, but everybody on the No. 14 Chevrolet did a good job. I’m really proud of everyone. Mike (Bugarewicz, crew chief) gave me a great race car. Everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevy, it’s an honor to put the Arnie’s Army and Janssen Chevrolet in the top three.”

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 LIBMAN/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 4TH
THIS IS YOUR BEST START HERE AT MARTINSVILLE AND YOUR BEST START THIS SEASON. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE WITH YOU AND THESE RCR CARS? YOU ARE PRETTY QUICK IN QUALIFYING EACH WEEK NOW
“We made a concerted effort during the off-season to improve qualifying. How they do it I don’t know. But we’ve been qualifying pretty good. Austin (Dillon) had the pole last week. I was hoping to get one this week, but we’ll take fourth. It puts us on the outside, but we’ll work with that. But I’m really proud of everybody at RCR. We’ve got speed in our cars and the cars are just faster. Now we’ve just got to balance them out to each driver. But, I feel really good about where we’re at with the Libman/Menards Chevy.”

ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“We unloaded with good speed and all year really, you’ve seen with Austin (Dillon, teammate) and Ryan (Newman, teammate) we have been qualifying a lot better than we have in the past. That is something we really worked on. Obviously, it makes Sunday start off a lot easier if you have track position and it becomes just a matter of maintaining it and improving the car. I feel really good about where we are at as a company. We made some really good adjustments in practice. We have a really good team going.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 GRAINGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 5TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“We had a good car. The Grainger Chevrolet was good in practice. We basically ended up just about where we were kind of averaged fifth the whole time between practice and qualifying. I can’t say that I’m entirely happy with that. We want to win the pole, but it is a good starting spot for us for Sunday. We have something to work with for sure.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER/BUTTERFINGER/COFFEE-MATE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 6TH
YOU GUYS SEEM TO BE HITTING ON SOME THINGS LATELY:
“Yeah, we’re slowly getting there, for sure. It’s been a good start to the year after Daytona and Atlanta. We kind of got off to a slow start. The West Coast Swing was good; and Martinsville is always a place that I love. We have a lot of sponsors on our car. So, my job is a little easier but a little harder at the same time. But, we’re all having a good time. I love the way this team is gelling. Hopefully we will have a fun 500 laps around here.”

ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“It was pretty good. I didn’t quite get everything on that last run, but I was impressed that I could run my fastest lap on the fifth run of that run. It was good. I think we have a pretty solid race car. The cool thing is all the sponsors and supporters we have of this No. 47 Chevrolet this weekend, Kroger, Butterfinger and Coffee-mate. Overall the qualifying run was good. I wish we could have got a little bit more, but overall just a solid day. I think we have a good race car. We will figure it out in practice tomorrow, but I think we have a good baseline. So we will go have some fun for 500 laps.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 3M CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“I thought we made a lot of gains. I was really just proud of the effort from where we ended practice to where we qualified. I think that just goes to show the kind of work ethic these guys have and not giving up, not quitting. Obviously, it’s just Friday it is the beginning to a long weekend. That is every weekend. Qualifying is just a starting spot. We’ve got to recognize that we’ve got to be good for 500 laps here on Sunday and that is what we have to work on tomorrow.”

ON HIS BRAKE ISSUES:
*After qualifying the team bled the brake lines
“I think we just had a couple of bubbles in the line is what I think. It got a little better as I went, but definitely we had a long pedal, longer than normal at least. It still stopped fine. It could have been a lot worse.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 23RD
“We made a lot of progress with the Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevrolet today. I know (crew chief) Tony (Gibson) made a lot of changes and it kept getting better. We worked a lot getting the car to enter better so that we could finish the corners the way you needed to. Balancing the brakes was another thing we worked on today. We’ll try to get a little better in practice tomorrow and be ready for Sunday.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 29TH
WHAT WERE YOU STRUGGLING WITH?
“It’s hard to catch-up. We’re playing a little catch-up, but we tried to throw in the set-up the No. 27 (Paul Menard) and it obviously worked out really well for our teammate. We’ve just got to look at everything and go over our data and try to get it better for Sunday. We’ve struggled in qualifying here in the past and raced pretty solid. So, we just have to go to work. This is something I’m used to starting deep here. We’ve got to be better in qualifying. I’ve got to look at something and figure it out.”