MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BANK OF AMERICA 500
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 6, 2017
TOP TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIERS:
POS. DRIVER
7TH CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 SUNENERGY1 CHEVY SS
9TH KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 ROAD TO RACE DAY CHEVY SS
10TH KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVY SS
11TH RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVY SS
TOP FIVE QUALIFIERS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2nd Matt Kenseth. (Toyota)
3rd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
4th Kyle Busch (Toyota)
5TH Clint Bowyer (Ford)
The Bank of America 500 is scheduled to begin on Sunday, October 8th at 2 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC, PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES & QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 SUNENERGY1 CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 7th
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT TONIGHT AT CHARLOTTE?
“Yeah, it was okay. I think we ended up seventh, the NO. 2 (Brad Keselowski) got me there at the end. It was alright, a little better than we have been qualifying by a spot or two, so small gains are worth something.”
THOUGHTS ON THE PJ1:
“Yeah, you know I about wrecked in it too. I don’t know what is going on with it today. I don’t know if something weird with the way they put it down or what it was, but it was slick today.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 ROAD TO RACE DAY CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 9th
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and the guys kept making the car better, which was really nice. I felt like I gave up just a little bit that final run in Turns 3 and 4, which cost us. We probably could have qualified fifth. So, wish I had done a little better there, but overall, we made gains each round and that was nice. We have a decent starting spot for Sunday, so that is great.”
THOUGHTS ON THE VHT OR THE PJ1:
“I stayed out of it so far. I’m scared of it. I have seen other people get in it and it doesn’t look good.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 10th
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT AND ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR STARTING SPOT?
“I guess not really. I don’t know, the first run I thought I was kind of loose just turned to the bottom a lot quicker than I thought, so I think we kind of scared ourselves and maybe tightened up too much for the second round and then probably didn’t go back enough for the third round. So, I was still too tight those final two runs, but 10th will be okay. It’s a long race. We will be alright.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE VHT/PJ1 IT’S THE HOT TOPIC TODAY:
“I think it was the worst idea ever for this track. I think it’s great for other tracks, but I don’t think for a fast 1.5-mile it’s good. Obviously, it’s slick and I don’t think any of us are ever going to run up there, so I don’t know.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 18th
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE VHT AND HOW HARD THAT HAS BEEN TO NAVIGATE AROUND AND THROUGH TODAY?
“The VHT is just really slick. It seems that has worked well at some race tracks, it just hasn’t here. I got my right-side tires in it and you can’t get out of it once you get in it and we only had that one… you really only have your one run. The last run is like a hail Mary and you know you are not going to make it, but you still try really hard. But, yeah, the VHT just hasn’t worked out at this track very well.”
HOW TOUGH IT PASSING HERE?
“I don’t know. I guess it depends on how good your car is. It’s hard to pass everywhere right now, but if you get long green flag runs it certainly makes it a little bit easier if you have a good car.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 23rd
THAT YOU GUYS EVEN MADE THE SECOND ROUND IS PRETTY IMPRESSIVE BECAUSE YOU GUYS HAD TO HUSTLE TO GET THE CAR OUT THERE:
“Yeah, I think so. We really didn’t get much time on the car in practice, so that first lap was a bit of a surprise. We were on the splitter a little bit the first run. We bled the tires like we typically do. I think it got on the race track a little too hard that last lap and just knocked all the speed out of it. But, we will get in here. We just hadn’t been able to really science on this car any and see where the travels are, so it doesn’t surprise me it’s on the splitter a little bit. So, we will get in the garage here and take a look at it and start planning for our practice tomorrow. We had to go around a couple of times and failed the LIS over and over today, so we lost a lot of practice time tomorrow, so it’s going to be a tough weekend for us.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 25th
IT WAS A BIT OF A HUSTLE TO GET THROUGH TECH. WHAT WERE YOU LACKING OR WHAT WERE YOU DEALING WITH ON THAT QUALIFYING RUN?
“Multiple trips through the inspection line doesn’t help by any stretch and we just missed it. So, another frustrating Friday, unfortunately; and we’ll be back tomorrow and we’ll have to pass a bunch of cars on Sunday. It sucks starting the weekend behind like this, but it is what it is and we’re just going to have to go to work on Sunday.”
WE’VE SEEN YOU COME FROM THE BACK OR MID-PACK TIME AND AGAIN TO GO ON TO WIN. HOW HAS THE GAME CHANGED WITH THESE STAGES IN THE PLAYOFFS?
“There is far less opportunity to work strategy in order to leap-frog people and have something work for you. Last weekend in Dover we finally got to the top 3 and then the checkered fell. It just takes a long time to pass quality cars, and you get inside the top 10, and they’re quality cars. It takes 50 laps per position and then you just mathematically run out of opportunity to get to the front. So, I’m disappointed with tonight. I’m disappointed with the way qualifying has been going. We’re trying hard but we just can’t get our fingers on it right now.”