Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Richmond–Qualifying

TOP TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIERS:
POS. DRIVER
4TH KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CHEVROLET SS
9TH CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS
11TH JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVY SS

TOP FIVE QUALIFIERS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Matt Kenseth (Toyota)
2nd Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
3rd Kurt Busch (Ford)
4th Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
5TH Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)

The Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway is scheduled to begin on Saturday, September 9th. Live coverage can be found on NBC Sports Network, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 at 7:30 p.m.

POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES:

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 4th
YOU GUYS QUALIFIED WELL, BUT WHAT IS THE OUTLOOK FOR TOMORROW NIGHT?
“Yeah, we did some long run stuff today in practice and I thought we were like a fifth to seventh place car. Not bad. The long runs are kind of where I struggle, and we typically struggle. But we should be okay.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 9th
IS THAT ABOUT WHERE YOU THOUGHT YOU GUYS WOULD END UP AFTER YOU MADE IT TO THE FINAL ROUND?
“I really didn’t know where we were going to end up to be honest with you. It was better than we have been qualifying here. We had been qualifying in the mid-20s, so it’s an improvement from there for sure.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 11th
“So, we weren’t very good in qualifying trim all day long. We struggled. We were pretty good in race trim but when we ran our first mock run, we weren’t very good. I thought we learned a little bit in that qualifying session that we can apply to the race. Just some of the same issues we fought on our fast lap in race trim, we fought in qualifying. So, I felt like we learned a little bit there. I just talked to Matt (McCall, crew chief) and he thinks we have a pretty good plan for tomorrow. On the long run, we were actually pretty good and that is so important here. You have to have the balance of being good on a short run but we are going to have long green flag runs here and you can make up a lot of ground.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 21st
NOT QUITE THE SPEED YOU WANTED IN QUALIFYING, BUT HOW WAS THE CAR IN RACE TRIM AND WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHANCES TOMORROW IN THIS RACE?
“It was actually pretty good in race trim. We were in the top 10 in both practices and we liked the way our car held on too. So, we learned some things that I think that will help us tomorrow. From lap 30 beyond I think we helped our car quite a bit. We have been struggling at this track the last several trips. I believe we have learned a few things, but the Ford’s and Toyota’s, Penske and all the Toyota’s they are pretty fast.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 27th
YOU HAVE THREE STRAIGHT TOP 10 FINISHES HERE, BUT WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FOR THE RACE TOMORROW NIGHT?
“Our (RCR) cars are very similar and our Caterpillar Chevrolet just doesn’t have the short run speed that it takes in Qualifying to go around. So, we’ve got some work to do when it comes to that. But, I’m happy that we have a good long run car because I think that’s what it’s going to take. But, you never know. So, we’ll just keep digging.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 31st:
“I’ve never been excited to get to Richmond (laughs). It’s not one of my favorite places to come to. But, we’ve got to keep working hard. We have a good long run car. On average on the race pace we’re good, but all of our cars struggled there. We (RCR drivers) kind of travel in a group when we struggle. And when we run good, we run good like at Darlington last weekend. So, it’s good to know that hopefully we can turn the whole ship around by the end of the weekend. Like I said, we have a good long run car. We put ourselves in a bit of a hole here, but at least we’re in the Playoffs.”