MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
APRIL 28, 2018
TOP TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIERS:
POS. DRIVER
5th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
11TH ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1
15TH DARRELL WALLACE JR., NO. 43 PETTY’S GARAGE/MEDALLION BANK CAMARO ZL1
16TH JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1
17TH WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE QUALIFIERS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Kevin Harvick (Ford)
2nd Kurt Busch (Ford)
3rd Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
4th Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
5TH Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
The GEICO 500 is scheduled to begin on Sunday, April 29 at 2 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES & QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 5th
TOP FIVE STARTING SPOT FOR YOU AT TALLADEGA TODAY. ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT?
“Yeah, I think it’s plenty good enough. Obviously, you are not going to run in the top five all day. I think that it is plenty good enough. I think our car has good pace and hopefully it drives good tomorrow.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 11th
“I’m glad we made the final round. We came down here with a lot of handling in the car, not really trying to sit on the pole. I don’t think it is too bad. I think it will race really well.”
YOU THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU CAN MAKE UP HERE DOES QUALIFYING EVEN REALLY MATTER?
“No, not unless you are on the pole. I don’t really think it matters at all. I think we will be good. I mean, obviously, pit stall pick matters so that is probably more important than anything.”
DARRELL ‘BUBBA’ WALLACE, JR., NO. 42 PETTY’S GARAGE/MEDALLION BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 15th
HOW WAS YOUR CAR?
“You just hold it wide open and try to hold a pretty wheel. Our Petty’s Garage/Medallion Bank Chevy Camaro ZL1 felt pretty good. They took away… they did some restrictor plate stuff from the accident yesterday and I thought we would lose a little bit more time, so we are actually pretty happy with our speed right now. We will see what happens. A little bit better run than our qualifying run at Daytona, but you know these races it doesn’t matter where you start it matters where you finish. We will get us a good spot for tomorrow and sit back and enjoy the show.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 22nd
“It’s not a big deal here at Talladega or superspeedway racing. I think you can start anywhere in the field and be the front three cars by the end of the first lap. Hopefully we have a good race tomorrow in the Credit One Bank Chevy. Daytona was a bit of a struggle. I feel like our car handled a lot better yesterday in practice than it did in February at Daytona. That is promising. Definitely sketchy there in qualifying. It was a handful which is not fun, but yeah, we will be good tomorrow.”
HOW MUCH DRAFTING DID YOU DO YESTERDAY IN PRACTICE?
“I got to do a little bit of drafting and like I said, at Daytona our car was crazy kind of had a mind of its own I felt like, but yesterday I felt really stable in the draft which was good. We probably didn’t have a whole lot of speed, but I think it seems like handling has become more important over the last couple of years. I think if you can have the handle on your car you can be a little more aggressive in the draft.”