NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA TEXAS 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
NOVEMBER 1, 2013
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“I think the lap time was reasonable; we’re just not sure where it will be. But, you saw the effort needed to keep it off the fence. It’s slippery out there; it is going to be a challenging qualifying session. We went faster than we did in practice, so hopefully that is a good sign and we can keep the 48 up top. But, a challenging lap for the Lowe’s Chevrolet.”
IN REGARDS TO CHANGING TRACK CONDITIONS:
“The track is going to cool down as time goes on. I put up a good lap and went a couple of tenths faster than what we did in practice. So I’m very proud with what we did with the lap and the conditions of the conditions on the track. It is pretty low on grip and I think the No. 36 car spinning out is a testament to that. It was a pretty challenging lap.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 QUAKER STATE/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FOURTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“We unloaded fast of the truck and started practice working on race setup. We liked how we ended, so we bailed on the race runs, and went to qualifying trim and the car had speed in it all day. As good as the car was in practice, I thought we had a shot at the pole. It felt really fast. Probably just gave up a little bit too much in the middle of three and four. But good starting spot for the Quaker State Chevy.”
WHAT IS THE HARDEST SPOT ON THE TRACK TO NAIL?
“I felt like one and two was really good. It was mostly shaded, and felt like I picked up a lot from practice through one and two…just more grip down there. Three and four, the sun is pretty direct in it. That has always been kind of the struggle here is getting through three and four. If you overdrive the entry you get tight center-exit. I probably backed up my entry just right, but was just a little late getting back in the gas so maybe could have had it.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY GOLD/7-ELEVEN CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN:
“We started off on the wrong foot this morning and worked really hard to improve the car. We think we have a good race car. I’m happy to put down a lap that’s competitive. We tested here and got a lot of knowledge. We feel like we have a good start to put together a good race car.”
AFTER THAT TEST, HOW MUCH DID YOU LEARN ABOUT TIRE WEAR?
“I’m not sure we learned a lot on tire wear. We had some tires tear up on us and we had some tires not do too bad. As the thing rubbers up this weekend, it will be fine on tire wear. We have to get a car that handles well over the entire run.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED EIGHTH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“I’m happy I thought we made a good gain from practice. You always go through a lap going ‘oh I could have gone a little bit more there, I could have given up a little bit here.’ I mean overall I think it was a very solid lap. I think Jimmie (Johnson) had a great lap. Now I think it just comes down to track conditions. If the track conditions improve that is going to hurt us a little bit, but we will see. I can’t be disappointed with anything we have done so far today.”
IN REGARDS TO HIS DAY AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
“My car was a little bit tight getting back in the throttle so I don’t think I was able to get the backend out like some other guys. My car was pretty solid, but all-in-all, great day for our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet. We were 14th in practice, qualified eighth and we went out fairly early, 10th I think. That in my opinion is a good day. We are right there where we need to be to go get ready for this race on Sunday. Funny thing is we qualified eighth in the spring as well and we were pretty solid, but setups have changed slightly since then for the better. I think that just we as a team are more solid, more confident in everything that we are doing. I love this race track. I love how you can search around this race track. It is going to be a fun and exciting race to watch. I am looking forward to getting our car dialed in tomorrow during practice. We tested here last week and thought we found something, and I thought even today we found a few more things to make it even better.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 TIME WARNER CABLE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH
ON QUALIFYING FOR SUNDAY’S RACE:
“It wasn’t a bad qualifying effort, but I am looking forward to practice tomorrow to get the car where we need for Sunday.”
WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO WIN HERE AT TEXAS?
“I think it would be really big for us. We definitely have had a tough Chase. I felt like at Martinsville we had a great car, and some of the other ones. Just haven’t been able to put it all together. Whether it was luck, or mistakes or whatever it’s been. We’re right there. We still have a really solid team and great cars each week. If we could win here, Phoenix and Homestead…Homestead we tested this week and had a great test. There are some tracks where hopefully we can finish up strong and it will at least make the winter a little bit easier.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“I think at least we narrowed up the gap between first and where we were by two tenths. It was a good lap. We started in qualifying trim. I wish we could have been a little bit better, but hopefully we will end up around the top 10.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 19TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“We have struggled all weekend. We struggled today in qualifying trim with just being way too tight in (turns) three and four. We fixed a lot of it, about half of it right there, still just didn’t quite get it free enough. Still not bad. We picked up two and a half tenths so that is all you can ask for is to get better.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 30TH
ON HER QUALIFYING RUN:
“We were good in (turns) 1 and 2 and the car got tight in (turns) 3 and 4. We picked up from practice though, which is a positive. We started out practice way too loose and got better as the day went on. Really appreciate all the hard work from Tony Gibson and the GoDaddy guys. They worked really hard today. I really appreciate the effort.”
