NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA TEXAS 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
OCTOBER 31, 2014
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
OUTSIDE FRONT ROW PRETTY CLOSE TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE FOR SUNDAY:
“It was three incredible laps and a great effort by our Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet team today. All day long we have had a fast race car. It’s awesome to be able to back that up in qualifying. It’s so tricky at a track like this where the tires fall off a little bit and this is an abrasive track, but super-fast. Great conditions and you are just trying to keep up with the adjustments each time you go out. I thought the team did a great job. We were fourth, third and second, so we kept getting better each round and Matt (Kenseth) put up a great lap and I just was off by the tiniest bit. I could go back over that lap now a hundred times and do it over again to try to find that one thousandth or two thousandths of a second.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 6TH
ON GOING OVER 200 MPH IN QUALIFYING:
“We were going to be probably down to a 26.75 (seconds) or 26.80 if I would have finished getting through (Turn) four. I got real tight and had to lift all the way out of the gas in the first round and still ran a 27.10, so it was going to be a big monster lap in the first round, but that is not the one that pays. We hit it the second round and I missed it in the third round, my fault. Chad Johnston (crew chief) and everybody on the Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevy team, we had some problems this morning and we only got eight laps of practice in. We had a good run in the mock qualifying run late in the first session and qualified well. I’m pretty happy with that.”
FASTEST LAP EVER ON A 1.5-MILE TRACK IN QUALIFYING. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE IN THE CAR GOING THAT FAST? “Yeah, definitely not in a 3400 pound stock car for sure. It is always cool to be the first guy to be able to do anything. To be the first to run 200 mph average on a 1.5-mile is pretty cool.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 14TH
WHAT DID YOU EXPERIENCE IN QUALIFYING TODAY?
“The track is fast, the cars are fast. I could come to the green (flag) really good and actually be on the loose side. But then when I got to Turn 1 I was always tight landing, so it is probably something I am doing with driving too far, doing something with my feet throwing the car off. Overall I think we have a great car. It felt really good in practice race trim and qualifying. Those were good laps on parts of the track. I just couldn’t get through Turn 1, everywhere else I was pretty fast.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 17TH
DO YOU THINK YOU CAN GAIN SOME MORE SPEED IN PRACTICE TOMORROW?
“I definitely think we can. Our Target Chevy has been really fast on 1.5-miles since the Chase has started. It’s been our strong suit the whole year. We will work on it a little bit in practice and hopefully get it better. I feel like it handles good, just have to get a little bit more speed. But if you get the handling down here at Texas you will have a good day. Just have to keep up with the changing track conditions come Sunday and hopefully we are up front at the end.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS, QUALIFIED 5TH:
“(The car) was just too tight. It was a little too tight getting into the corner. I think we will be good in race trim.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS, QUALIFIED 7TH:
“Well when you are second in the second round, and end up seventh in the last round, you aren’t too happy. But, it was a good effort for our Caterpillar team. Surprised myself a little bit in the second run, but in the third one I lost just a little bit of time and speed down in (turns) one and two. I felt like I made up some in (turns) three and four compared to my previous run, but evidently it wasn’t enough.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS, QUALIFIED 4TH:
“Good runs all the way through. We had to make some big changes going into qualifying with the car touching the racetrack due to the extra speed. The pace that the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has been on for qualifying this year is track records everywhere we go. This time around was no different. But we were able to advance through all three rounds and really put up a good fight in the final round. We almost had a shot at the pole, we ended up a little tight in turn four, and that brought us home fourth. A great day all the way around for the first time with Tony Gibson, the engineers and everyone on this Haas Automation Chevy. It felt good to get that first day under our belt.”