NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
JULY 5, 2013
KASEY KAHNE LEADS TEAM CHEVY IN QUALIFYING AT DAYTONA
FOUR CHEVROLET DRIVERS WILL START IN TOP-10 FOR THE 55TH ANNUAL COKE ZERO 400
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – July 5, 2013 – Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet SS, led the way for all Team Chevy drivers during qualifying on Friday at Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Kahne turned a lap of 46.595 seconds at a speed of 193.154 mph to earn a fourth-place starting position for the event.
Paul Menard qualified the No. 27 Rheem/Menards Chevrolet SS in sixth position and was followed by Kahne’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet SS – who qualified eighth. Danica Patrick, No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet SS, who won the pole here in February, will start in 10th position for the summer race.
Other Team Chevy drivers qualifying in the top-20 were: Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Chevy SS – 13th, Juan Pablo Montoya No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS – 14th, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 National Guard Chevy SS – 16th, and Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevy SS – 17th.
Kyle Busch (Toyota) won the pole position, Matt Kenseth (Toyota) qualified second, Clint Bowyer (Toyota) will start third and Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota) rounded out the top-five in fifth.
The 55th-annual Coke Zero 400 will take the green flag on Saturday, July 6th at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be aired live on TNT.
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FOURTH
A LOT OF DRIVERS HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE WIND OUT THERE WHAT DID YOU FEEL?
“I just thought it looked really windy. I saw the flags moving. It looks like it’s blowing from the backstretch to the frontstretch. I just kind of went around there. I felt where it pushed me a little bit. I never felt it bog the car down. That was good, our engines run really well. I think we have a fast car, obviously to go that quick today. We have a good Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet and looking forward to tomorrow night.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
WHEN YOU CAME INTO THE GARAGE YOU SAT IN THE CAR FOR AWHILE FIRED THE ENGINE, TURNED IT OFF, FIRED THE ENGINE TURNED IT OFF. IS EVERYTHING OKAY WITH THE LOWE’S CHEVROLET?
“Yeah everything is in good shape. Just taking my time to get out of the car make sure I cycled it a few times. We are trying to get every bit of speed we can out of these cars and tape over the radiator inlet is really the best way to do that in qualifying. We were being aggressive there, but just want to get the car cooled down before we push it in.
YOU HAVE THREE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS TEAMMATES OUT THERE THAT ARE REALLY FAST. HOW COGNIZANT ARE YOU OF WHERE THEY ARE AT DURING THE RACE TOMORROW NIGHT?
“You know it’s tough in this format to do a lot with a teammate. With the tandem drafting that we had in years past you had to have a partner and you may as well in the best situation was race with a teammate. You can plan things in advance and really work around that. In today’s world it’s tough. You try to help when you can, but you really have to look around and be aware of who you are racing with because every driver has their own tendencies and style. I will get behind someone because I know they are going to get to the front it doesn’t matter who it is, what make it is, whoever is behind the wheel you know they are going to the front that is who you want to get behind.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH
THE GUYS THAT WE FIRST TALKED TO WERE TALKING A LOT ABOUT THE WIND OUT THERE. WHAT DID YOU EXPERIENCE?
“I didn’t feel like the car was buffeting today as much as it was yesterday. Wind definitely plays a factor even from qualifying here at the beginning of the year for the (Daytona) 500 when we were on the pole there was certain spots that I gained and lost on that lap. We kind of figured it was probably a wind thing. Obviously, it’s not going to be the pole, but I think it will still give us a decent starting spot. We found some ways to get better in practice yesterday and that should help us in the race.”
GIVE US AN IDEA OF HOW A LAP HERE FEELS IN QUALIFYING IN JULY VERSUS FEBRUARY:
“You know it’s hotter obviously. Just everything gets going a little bit slower. You can feel the heat. Shoot I feel a little bit slower, it’s hot. It doesn’t mean we are going to start in a bad place. We are not going to get the pole obviously, but it still should be a decent spot to start for the Coke Zero 400 tomorrow night.”
WHEN YOU GET OUT THERE TOMORROW AND GET THIS RACE GOING ON IT’S GOING TO BE A LITTLE BIT SHORTER TIME, A LITTLE BIT DARKER, A LITTLE BIT COOLER, MAYBE A LITTLE BIT MORE GRIP. ANYTHING GOING TO CHANGE OTHER THAN TRY SOMETHING’S YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE BEFORE?
“Well, it will be darker; it’s going to be dark. It will have more grip and it will be cooler. All those things will happen tomorrow night and we obviously didn’t practice in those conditions but we have the extreme of them which is at the beginning of the year. If there is one track we get a lot of laps on it’s here at Daytona. I think as teams go we all feel pretty comfortable and that is why you don’t see a ton of practice out there from everybody because we have brought the best things that we can. We will just have to see how it shakes out tomorrow night and hopefully the GoDaddy car can end up on top.”
ON THE CAR
“This is the same car that I used to test at the beginning of the year and it was a great car then. We weren’t even sure if we were going to use the other car as our primary. But we did. And it was fast and we got the pole and unfortunately we lost that car at Talladega. But that’s the way it goes on speedway racing. So, we’ve got a good car here, no doubt. And I’m sure that the red-white-blue added GoDaddy car will still start in a decent position for the race. Things change quickly here. I don’t think it’s going to be quite as much like follow-the-leader maybe as you saw at the beginning of the year in the 500. I feel like it’ll be fine.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/DUCKS UNLIMITED CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
YOU KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT WINNING THIS PARTICULAR RACE HOW WAS THAT LAP OUT THERE WITH ALL THE VARIABLES WE ARE FACING TODAY?
“I wish I could make it sound really exciting but from a driver’s side today’s is really just a showcase of what the teams how good a job they do coming here. Our job is to watch the tach (tachometer) when we leave the pit road and shift three times and then just try to hold a really steady smooth wheel and let the car run what it’s going to run. My job gets a little more interesting tomorrow night when I have to put my shoes on.”
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN:
“Uneventful, you just try to do everything you can to hold the wheel real nice and straight and not clip the apron and just have a smooth lap. It’s going to run whatever it’s going to run. Proud of our team everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing has done an awesome job. Like always we have great Hendrick horsepower. Uneventful day.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 27TH:
“You are running wide-open the whole time so you transfer a lot of heat through the gas pedal to your feet. But we haven’t had any problems with our Cessna Chevy this weekend.”
