MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
FIREKEEPERS CASINO 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 16, 2017
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CARS 3 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Pole Winner
“We made some good adjustments there for that final round. I was pretty good in the first round and a little bit tight in the second round. They went a step further on freeing it up for the final round and the Cars 3 Chevy drove good. I could tell by the rpm and the engine it was going to be a pretty good lap so I was happy about that to get the pole after winning here last year. So, hopefully we can keep it going. So far, it’s been a really good weekend leading in practice and then getting the quick time here. So, yeah; it’s an exciting weekend and hopefully we can keep it going.”
HOW IMPORTANT IS PIT SELECTION HERE AT MICHIGAN?
“Well, it’s definitely not as important as it is at like a Martinsville or other short tracks. But, pit selection is always important. So anytime you can get down there at the end of pit road in the number one stall, it helps. I’m excited about that. I’m not the best at qualifying in my career, but this year it’s been pretty good. We’ve been having better pit stalls and races from that.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 8th
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“Qualifying was pretty uneventful us. For some reason in practice I was really good in (Turns) 3 and 4 and not good in (Turns) 1 and 2. We didn’t really change a whole lot and in qualifying we were really good in (Turns) 1 and 2 and not very good in (Turns) 3 and 4. It was about the same all three rounds. We didn’t really adjust on a whole lot, it is a fun place to qualify though. You run like 215 mph or something into Turn 1, which is pretty fun.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 10th
ON HIS SESSIONS:
“Yeah, just glad to make the last one. Obviously, wish we could have gone a little better. Three tenths off fast time, that is a lot. We definitely have some work to do tonight, I think, to catch up to those guys that are running those .60’s consistently, that is really good. We will go to work on that, but it could have been worse, so we will get the ole NAPA Chevy ready to go tomorrow and hopefully dial in those practice sessions and our race run stuff and try to be good Sunday.”
WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART TODAY?
“Just trying to put your corner together. We have a lot of straightaway speed and just trying to… the corners are long and sweeping and NASCAR has pulled a ton of gear out of these cars this weekend. Which, I don’t really know about, but I think that is going to make it difficult. And that momentum is just even a bigger factor and all of the speed and momentum you can carry that you have down the straightaway and enter the corner with that is just going to translate into more speed as you carry around the corner and making the straightaways even longer than what they already are. So, it’s definitely a challenge and that gear I think is going to be a big factor on Sunday.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 13th
“We ran basically the same speed and I was hopeful to go a little faster on scuffed tires. Had a bobble down in (Turns) 3 and 4. I should have probably gone about two or three tenths faster than that. That is what we needed to keep up with the fast guys. Unfortunately, just missed it by a little bit there on that second round and we were in a discussion sitting at the end of pit road if I should go. We thought we were going to be fine and then to get nipped at the end, certainly just more frustration, but part of racing.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 17th
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO OVERCOME STARTING 17TH AND HOW WAS THE CAR IN RACE TRIM EARLIER?
“I really liked the car when it came off the trailer in race trim. We couldn’t really find exactly what we needed for qualifying trim. But, we have some good ideas on when we come back here the next trip on things that can help the car for qualifying, but really happy with how the car was off the truck. There are some guys out there running some really good laps and pretty impressive stuff out there for this final round, we will see who gets the pole.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW SALUTES VETERANS CHEVROLET SS – Qualified
18th
‘It is a speed issue. I’m running the same type of line that I ran last year and we qualified eighth here; top 10 mostly. We just don’t have the speed. We’re working on speed and a little bit of an entry security issues. If we can get those worked out, but exit of the corner is pretty nice for us. So, we’ll keep working on this DOW Veterans Chevy and see what we can do for Sunday.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER/CLICKLIST CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 26th
HOW DO YOU STAY FOCUSED WHEN YOU’RE GOING SO FAST INTO TURN 1?
“Yeah, I wasn’t sure what happened. The first time it (the engine) completely shut off so we had to come in and cool the car down. When we went back out, it did the same thing. So, my get-up-to-speed wasn’t great. It just kind of gets you all out of rhythm. But the first lap I thought was decent. We just got way too tight there. And, the second lap, just because we came in so late, we tried to go back out and the tires were hot. I got through (Turns) 1 and 2 decent, I thought, and probably tried to overdrive (Turn) 3 not knowing where I was at on speed. So, it’s disappointing. We were going to be right on the edge anyway. I thought we’d be about 20th or 22nd on speed. So, this place will get slick on Sunday. Hopefully we can just get the Kroger ClickList Chevy just driving smoother. That problem is out of our control as a team. We know the engine people have got to figure out what’s going on. There’s nothing we did wrong. It’s just one of those things that kind of ticks you off for a second and you’ve got to calm down. The bigger picture is 400 miles around here is a lot of laps. The place will widen out and there will be a lot of passing. We’ve just got to go do our jobs and keep digging.”