NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 30, 2014
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A CRASH ON LAP 199
IN REGARDS TO THE ON-TRACK INCIDENT:
“He (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) barely got into me and you hope that wouldn’t happen and he would get off of you, but he didn’t. I went around and got into the wall pretty hard. I don’t know if they will be able to fix it, but we had a really good run again and had a great McDonald’s Chevy and it’s just unfortunate.”
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
“There was a lap car holding up our pack. I thought the No. 88 would be a little more patient with me. I had gotten by him in lap traffic. Then he got on my inside. When he got into me it was like it couldn’t get off and spun me around and just got into the wall there. Really unfortunate had a good car, every race we’ve had good cars. You just wish you weren’t racing for points because that is the hardest part to swallow is the point’s loss. It’s fun to run well but that is what you will think about for the next five days.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
ON HIS RACE:
“I didn’t know if we’d be able to do it. The No. 48 car is king here – him or the 24. The old theory is if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. We have a Hendrick chassis prepared by Stewart-Haas Racing. Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet… thanks to those guys. I’ve been on this journey for awhile. Every time you come to Martinsville you draw a line through it; like ‘there’s no way I’ll be able to challenge those Hendrick guys or challenge for a top-10’. These Stewart-Haas team gave me a team to do it. Now I know what I need to do on Saturdays: don’t even practice. Just show up and race on Sunday that way I won’t dial out the car! It’s a dream come true to have Gene Haas call you and tell you that he wants you to drive and he wants to go for trophies and wins. It’s an unbelievable feeling to deliver.”
THE PIT LANE INCIDENT WITH BRAD KESELOWSKI
“We won. We’re not worried about any of that nonsense right now. We are a winner. We’re not guaranteed in the Chase but we have a win and we’re moving forward. Thanks a lot to everyone on this team. I can’t thank them enough.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
ON HIS RACE:
“I’d been loose in the final third of the race and was hanging on there. When (Kurt Busch) got back by me, I was hopefully that he’d wear his stuff out and I could get back by him. He did but I couldn’t hold him off. I started to get looser and looser. That’s all I had. I ran the rear tires off the car. I flipped every switch and knob I could get front brake and turn fans off to bring my balance back but it was a little too loose to get the win. I hate it. We had a very fast race car. I wish we could have gotten this for Rick (Hendrick’s) 30th anniversary.”