MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
AUTO CLUB 400
AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 24, 2017
KYLE LARSON PUTS CHEVROLET SS ON POLE AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY
Five Team Chevy Drivers in Final Top 12 Qualifiers
FONTANA, Calif. (March 24, 2017 – Kyle Larson captured the pole position in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS for the Auto Club 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race with a lap of 38.493 seconds, 187.047 mph. Larson, who is the current MENSC points leader, with three consecutive runner-up finishes in four races this year, will lead the 39-car field to the green at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday.
The feat marked the 690th pole for Chevrolet in NASCAR’s premier racing series.
“I’m really happy,” said Larson upon collecting his second NASCAR Career pole. “Our Target team has been amazing to start the season and to get a pole is great. I knew the third-round I was going to have to move up, but our Target Chevy was really good, really balanced up there. Yeah, this is awesome. I haven’t gotten a pole since my rookie season. I can’t say enough about everybody at our race shop for all the hard work they have been putting in. Got a little team dinner tonight, so this will be a good way to celebrate.”
Larson’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Jamie McMurray, also had a fast No. 1 McDonald’s Chevy SS, and will start the 400-mile race from the eighth position
Ryan Newman, the winner of last week’s race in Phoenix, was fifth quick in his No. 31 Caterpillar Chevy SS; and his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Austin Dillon, qualified 11th in his No. 3 American Ethanol Chevy SS.
Kasey Kahne will start 12th in the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS.
Denny Hamlin (Toyota) qualified second, Brad Keselowski (Ford) was third, and Martin Truex Jr., (Toyota) was fourth to round out the top five starters.
Round 5 of the 2017 season, the The Auto Club 400, is slated to start on Sunday March 26th at 3:30 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER
QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
TALK ABOUT THE QUICK LAP OUT THERE THAT WON YOU THE POLE:
“It was a good qualifying run for us. We were quickest in practice and there in the first-round I felt like I under drove a little bit and I think we were fourth fast overall and then sixth the second round. I had been running the bottom in (Turns) 3 and 4 and knew that I was going to have to move up for the final round and it stuck good up there and got us the pole. So, yeah, it was a great day for our Target team and looking forward to tomorrow and practice and having a good balance for Sunday’s race.”
TALK A LITTLE ABOUT TIRE MANAGEMENT. IT SEEMS LIKE IT’S GOING TO BE INCREDIBLE IMPORTANT HERE COME SUNDAY:
“Yeah, tire management is always really important here. It seems to be more important each and every year as the track kind of wears out some. Yeah, it makes a lot of fun though. All of us drivers always enjoy going to tracks like here and Chicago, Charlotte, Atlanta, places like that. Fontana though is a tricky one because you also have the seams to work with. That makes it even trickier in how you kind of position your car over the seams. Finding the right balance for that is tricky, but our car has been pretty good so far this season and hopefully it will be the same in race trim.”
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO IN ORDER TO GET A WIN ON SUNDAY?
“Honestly, probably just keep doing what we are doing and if we get a late restart just… here is so different though because you’ve got to be so aggressive and you can get ate up really fast if you are not aggressive here. It’s going to be a pick and choose little bit better there on those late restarts and just try and be mistake free like we have been and hopefully that is what it takes to win. It’s nice when you have fast race cars because it makes it a little easier to run up front and get wins. Yeah, we will see how it goes.”