NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
NEW HAMPSHIRE 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 15, 2016
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
THAT WAS AM IMPRESSIVE LAP DID YOU THINK YOUR CAR HAD THAT IN IT?
“I knew the car was good. We had something really weird go on in our mock run in practice for qualifying. It had us kind of confused. We went back to kind of square one and where we unloaded. The car was fast in all the sessions, a little tight, but we kept progressing, we kept our lap count down which was really important and was able to advance to the next round on the first lap, so just really happy. It was a trying day for sure, but just so proud of this who race team. Huge thanks to all the support from Lowe’s and all the employees at Lowe’s. They are behind us each and every weekend and we are very appreciative of that. Great support at Hendrick Motorsports and also Chevrolet. Just a great day.”
HOW MUCH DID THIS TEAM NEED THIS?
“We have had a lot of tough races. Qualifying has been so/so. I’m not the best at qualifying. I think the majority of that emotion was the fact that we actually got a pole. We don’t have many. It’s not our strong suit. Just a good day all-in-all and certainly something this Lowe’s team needed after the tough couple of months.”
DID THAT ONE TAKE YOU BY SURPRISE A LITTLE?
“Yeah, especially the way practice ended. We had a really weird set of tires or something odd go on on our mock run at the end of practice. It felt like something was broken on the car. So, to come back and have good speed in the car in advance. I knew after round two we would have a shot at the pole because we were able to keep our lap count down and advance to the next round on our first lap in each session. And then put together a smooth lap. I felt like it could have been faster, but certainly a good smooth one and it was enough.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE QUALIFYING HERE?
“You are just on edge. There is so little banking and so little grip, but if you get it right you can really produce a lap time. Overdriving the entry is something that is very easy to do. Then if you get in easy enough it is very easy to be too early to the gas and create all kinds of issues on the exit. Entry speed puts you in the right center and then you are able to drive off the corner and have enough drive off. Putting those three things together are about as tough as they get here. I was happy to get it. I ran one good lap, ran a second lap that wasn’t that good and Chad (Knaus) was encouraging me for a third lap and I about crashed down in (Turn) 1.”