MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
1000BULBS.COM 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 13, 2018
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER (* = Playoff Contender)
5TH *CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA NIGHTVISION LAMPS CAMARO ZL1
6TH JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1
7TH *ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1
8TH WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1
17TH DARRELL WALLACE, JR., NO. 43 MEDALLION BANK/PETTY’S GARAGE CAMARO ZL1
21ST *AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL E15 CAMARO ZL1
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Kurt Busch (Ford)
2nd Clint Bowyer (Ford)
3rd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
4th Aric Almirola (Ford)
5th Chase Elliott (Chevy)
The 1000Bulbs.com 500 from Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled to begin on Sunday, October 14 at 2:00 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES & QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA NIGHTVISION LAMPS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 5th
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT
“Yeah, it was an okay effort. Those guys are obviously very fast and whatnot. It’s a good top 5 starting spot. We’ll have a nice pit road selection and that’s always encouraging. And hopefully we’ll stay out of the melee tomorrow.”
WOULD A BETTER STARTING POSITION MAKE THAT MUCH DIFFERENCE IN PIT SELECTION?
“That first pit pick would be nice. But aside from that, I don’t really know that it matters a whole lot. We’ll see where we end up tomorrow.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 6th
HOW DIFFERENT WERE THE CONDITIONS FROM ROUND 1 TO ROUND 2?
“Not much. I don’t think shade and track conditions play a huge role here. I think more of a wind gust would hurt us and the wind has been pretty stable all day long. I’m looking down at the big American flag in Turn 4 and it’s pretty flat. I think they were very stable conditions. Our lap times were virtually the same, maybe we will end up sixth or so. Just very proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports bringing us fast race cars. You can’t control much at a restrictor plate race, but when you have a fast car you can control a little bit more.”
DID YOU GET A FEEL OF HOW THE CAR IS GOING TO WORK IN THE DRAFT DURING THE ONE PRACTICE SESSION TODAY?
“Yeah, I mean we will take every minute of practice they will give us. For plate racing and this format, I think this is a good way to utilize our time here at the track. Although it’s a very long day for the crew members we can make a nice two-day show out of this.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 7th
DID YOU GET EVERYTHING OR DID YOU LEAVE A LITTLE BIT OUT THERE? HOW ABOUT ALL THE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CARS ALL LINED UP?
“I think I got everything. I held her to the wood and didn’t lift. Not quite sure what more I could have done besides get a little better launch. These Hendrick Motorsports guys bring great superspeedway cars to the track. I think it just shows how close everybody is at Hendrick Motorsports; how we all work together and how close the teams work together. The cars all get prepared together, so it’s cool to have them all right in a line. Obviously, wish it was a couple spots better. It would have been cool to be first through fourth, but we will take that and head into the race tomorrow.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 8th
ON HIS QUALIFYING: “It’s good. With all four guys in the top-12, it is a strong showing for us. That should be good for Sunday. Qualifying doesn’t reflect totally on how things will shake out Sunday and how you are going to race. But it should be fine. With the four of us together at the start, we have an opportunity to stay in front of some of the possible situations, but you don’t control much out there and everything gets so shuffled during the race, it is hard to know. But I feel good about where we are right now. We’ll see what happens.”