CHASE FOR THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP
ROUND 5 OF 10
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 14, 2016
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 5th
ON QUALIFYING:
“I’ve been really pleased with the car all day. The first round was a little bit nerve racking we were really loose kind of out of nowhere. We weren’t like that in qualifying trim in practice. Greg (Ives, crew chief) made great adjustments, we picked up a bunch of speed and just got a little too tight the final round, but those guys, I don’t know that we were two and a half tenths too tight or a tenth and a half too tight, whatever it was. That is a lot. But I think race trim the sun is going to come out and we will have something for them.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 OUTBACK CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 11th
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“The first two rounds went good we just got way tight the last round.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW COATING MATERIALS CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 12th
ON QUALIFYING:
“We are happy with that. I didn’t want to be 12th I wanted to beat somebody in that final round, but we were just too tight when I got to Turn 1. Big improvement overall today, practice went pretty bad and the guys did a good job getting us a car to qualify good, get a good pit stall and race come Sunday.”
THOUGHTS ON SUNDAY:
“This place is always fun during the day on Sunday. I’ve enjoyed it. The track will widen out and hopefully that top lane gets running good.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 SUNENERGY1 CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 13th
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“Our car was tight out there and we tried to get it freed up to go a little faster. We just missed it a little bit, unfortunately. But we will get after it tomorrow and try to get a little better.
“We just have to have our car driving good. A starting spot is one thing. We also have multiple laps on Sunday rather than just one to try and make your car drive good. It is good to have a good starting spot and it is important to have a good pit selection and what not…but if you can get your car driving good that will override it on Sunday.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 21st
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“From Round 1 to Round 2, the car was much tighter. We attempted to free it up, but I’m not sure some of those adjustments didn’t change the ride height of the car and affected the splitter orientation with the ground. So, maybe we were on the splitter a little bit. But a ton tighter than what we had in the opening round. But, other than that, our car was repeating very well earlier in the day so kind of leaning that way. I don’t know if it is good or bad, but I’m not accustomed to qualifying well all the time, I’m used to racing through traffic. I’m not worried about this; we’ll just get that Lowe’s Chevy up there.
“It (having a win to automatically transfer) certainly takes the pressure off, but I don’t want it to, and I don’t want to fall back on the fact we are locked in. We need to qualify toward the front. That is the only way you are going to create the best scenario for Homestead. We need to get qualifying under control. I need to get better at it. We are not taking it lightly that we qualified 21st, but I’m not too concerned about it. I am better at racing, than I am at running a single lap.”