NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 1, 2016
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 51
ON WHAT HAPPENED:
“We had a real bad problem at the first run, the splitter was on the ground real bad. I was really tight and couldn’t run anywhere, but up against the wall. We made some adjustments to help the car and the splitter was still on the ground really bad. I got in a bad area with the wind and the air and it just got loose and spun out. The same thing that happened at Daytona to us. We just got to look at what we are doing on our adjustments and try not to do that.”
‘We were real tight. The splitter was on the ground real bad the whole first run and we took some rounds out of the back and that really made the car too loose off the corner. Same thing we did at Daytona. We’ve just go to look at our adjustments a little bit different.”
WOULD FOUR TIRES ON THAT LAST STOP HAVE HELPED?
“No, I don’t know; I don’t think so. It gets loose and the car wasn’t driving very well. If was on the splitter real bad the first run. You know, the tight through the center on the splitter and it swings it back on exit and then you’re in that pack in the middle without air and no real downforce on the back of the car and it just gets loose.”
ON WHAT HAPPENED:
“Just got loose. I was in a bad spot with the wind. It pinned the nose real hard off the corner and the car was a little bit loose off the corner that run. Real, real tight the first run that is why we fell back, we were just on the splitter real bad pushing. I could only run the top, I couldn’t even run the middle or the bottom because the car just would plow across the race track. So, we missed something this morning, I don’t know, but the thing shouldn’t have been on the splitter that hard. We couldn’t fix that. You have to put packer in the front or something when it is on the splitter as bad as it was. It was still on the splitter that second run. I had a lot of wheel in the car in the middle of the corner and then the back was swinging on the exit with the adjustments we made on the pit stop. Just a bad combination.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR CRASH ON LAP 51
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“I couldn’t really tell what happened. I know Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) went to go left and then came back right. I’m not sure exactly why, maybe there was something in front of him that happened, I don’t know. We had a great car. We had a really good Farmers Insurance Chevrolet. I’m surprised something like that happened right then. It wasn’t like it was four-wide or anything. It was fairly simple at that point in time I thought.”
WERE GUYS BEING REALLY AGGRESSIVE DUE TO THE WEATHER?
“Guys were being aggressive and it felt like it was late in the race the whole race. That first run was as wide-open as I’ve had it. As I remember it in a while at times of the first run, probably three-quarters of that first run. It was pretty wild how all that went down, but we had a good car. It was going to be a strong race if we just stayed out of trouble.”
WHAT DID YOU SEE?
“I saw the No. 88 went left and then he came back right spinning in front of me. So, I didn’t really know exactly what happened. We didn’t have anywhere to go once he came back across the track. We were done at that point, but we had a great Farmers Insurance Chevrolet. I felt really fast. I got in with the Gibbs guys because they stick to their plan. They were doing a really good job of it. I just got in with them and we were running and something happened on the pit stop. I’m not exactly sure there. I don’t think it was our team because our guys are strong as can be on pit road. So, we got back, but we were coming back through we had a good car.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS – WAS RELIEVED OF DRIVING DUTIES BY TY DILLON ON LAP 52
HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO GET OUT OF A PERFECTLY GOOD RACE CAR?
“It sucks to be honest. I know why we got to do it, but it sucks. It still sucks that you have to do it but if I hadn’t broke my back at the end of January; we wouldn’t be in this situation. Good news is this is last time we have to do it and I am back in next week. I really appreciate Ty (Dillon). He’s been a rock star through this whole thing and especially this weekend. He’s done all the heavy lifting and I just got in to ride around for 50 laps and turn it over to him. Fortunately we got the Lucky Dog and kept him on the lead lap. The change went pretty smooth – no drama there so we got him so he could go out there and race now.”
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined in multiple car crash on lap 59
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I don’t know. I just saw Michael (Waltrip, No. 55) all the way down on the grass. I don’t know how he got there. It’s always hard to say. But, I’ll tell you what man, this year has been a rough one for the GEICO Chevrolet. We just can’t get started. We’ve had good speed and probably some of the best cars, but we cannot start the season. It’s one thing or another every single race. We’ve got to keep looking at the positive side but for some reason cannot get through a race. This is a tough race to expect to get through. You expect something to happen, but that was pretty odd. It looked pretty dicey. I don’t know if somebody wanted to get by the No. 55 really bad or what the deal was, but it was a little aggressive early.”
DO YOU THINK GUYS ARE RACING TOO HARD TOO EARLY JUST BECAUSE OF THE WEATHER AND RAIN THREAT?
“It’s hard to say. These races are always like that. You try to guestimate why somebody’s mentality is the say it is. My mentality was ‘go’. So, I don’t blame anybody else for wanting to go, but unfortunately when he went down into the grass, I knew he went down there and I lost him in the A-post in my blind spot and I just stood on the gas and I was hoping that we were going to clear him and hoping that he got slowed down before he went back up the track, but I completely lost him in my blind spot and by the time I saw him, he hit us in the left rear. It’s disappointing. I think if we were sitting better the first part of the year, we’d come to Talladega and have a bad day and probably be a little bit more okay with it. But right now it’s a tough one to swallow because we needed a good day.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined a second time in a crash with Carl Edwards on Lap 110
WALK US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED THIS TIME?
“I don’t know. I was just riding around there at the back of the draft and I think something broke on Carl’s car. He just flew up the track into us.”
IS IT SAFE TO SAY ‘AMELIA’ IS RETIRED NOW?
‘Hell, I’m going home. I’m done. We need to park the car for a while, too.”
HOW HARD DID YOU HIT? ARE YOU FEELING OKAY?
“Yeah, I feel good. It was pretty hard. I don’t know. I think Carl (Edwards) hit harder. He had a longer way to go to get the fence than I did. That is why I was riding up there in case anything happened to our car we wouldn’t have far to go before we hit anything. I was in a pretty good spot to withstand something like that.”
ON HIS STEERING WHEEL COMING OFF DURING THE CRASH:
“Yeah, the steering wheel came off and I was trying to get it back on and the car was headed toward the wall. Well I wasn’t going to let it hit the wall so I grabbed the column and steered it with that. Tore my hands all up, but didn’t hit the wall. We have to look at something to keep that from happening anymore. We were just out there riding around and something broke on the No. 19 and he came over and got into us. We just had no luck this weekend.”