NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AAA TEXAS 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 31, 2014
Team Chevy Chase Drivers Qualify in Top-Seven at Texas
Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman will Start 2nd, 5th and 7th
• Four Chevy SS drivers score top-five starting spots for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500
• Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS, set the track qualifying record with a lap of 200.111 mph, breaking the previous record of 198.282 mph, set by Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS, in April, 2014. It was the first 200 mph qualifying lap at a 1.5-mile track in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history, and is the 22nd qualifying record set in 2014
• Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS, posted his 22nd top-10 start of the 2014 season, and his 15th at Texas Motor Speedway
• Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Red Vest Chevrolet SS, third fastest qualifier, posted his 15th top-10 start at Texas Motor Speedway, and his 19th in 34 races this season.
•
FT. WORTH (October 31, 2014) – The three Team Chevy drivers battling in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup had strong qualifying runs for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Current points leader Gordon scored a front row starting spot by turning in the second fastest time in the final of the three rounds of qualifying. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS, sitting second in the standings, posted the seventh fastest time of the 43-car field.
Harvick, eighth in the point standings, was the fifth fastest qualifier for the 334-lap/501-mile race.
Defending and six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Johnson, and Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS, were third and fourth fastest respectively to give Team Chevy four of the top-five qualifiers.
Stewart landed in the sixth starting spot after three rounds of qualifying, and Martin Truex, Jr. No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet SS, will start eighth to give Chevrolet seven of the top-10 starters in the eighth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was the pole winner.
The AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway is scheduled to begin Sunday November 2nd at 3:00 p.m. ET. Live coverage will be available on ESPN, PRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S RED VEST CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 3RD
POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING SESSION?
GORDON: “It was a really great effort by our team. We were in the top 4 in each session and kept creeping up on it. I was a little bit concerned about that last session. There isn’t a lot of time in between and I kept feeling my car get a little bit tighter in the corner. So you’re just trying to judge how much to adjust, as well as do you crack on the throttle a little bit more or how to approach it. So, I was a little bit conservative. The car was handling fantastic. But I just wanted to make sure that front end cut for me and I eased on the gas probably a little bit more than I should have getting into (Turn) 1. It got through there pretty good and I knew it was a decent lap. But it was obviously not quite enough to get a pole, but it was very solid day all the way around. My car feels really good. It’s great to be starting on the front row.”
WERE THE SPEEDS TOO HIGH HERE?
GORDON: “If you hit something, yeah. (laughter)”
JOHNSON: “It depends on what you’re after. The faster we go, the narrower the track is and the less side-by-side racing you’ll have. One thing that we do have working for us is that this is an abrasive race track. You can move around. But if this was a repave at this speed, you wouldn’t be to a second lane and you’d be pretty much single file. Oddly enough, you know you’re going fast but somehow the team and the feel you look for, they get the car pretty stuck to go that fast. You’re laughing and are pretty surprised that the car is sticking. Qualifying probably 25th was worse than qualifying on the pole. The guy at that speed was probably sliding around a lot more than the pole position was.”
ENTERING TURN 1 OR ENTERING TURN 3, WHICH WAS THE MOST DEMANDING CORNER?
GORDON: “I would say (Turn) 1 is a little bit trickier. The transition from the straightaway into the corner; the car really loads up there. Like Jimmie was saying, the cars are stuck pretty good. It gives you confidence to drive in there deep that it’s going to stick. I actually in practice, made my first qualifying run and it didn’t stick in that area and it got my attention. So, I’m glad we fixed it (laughs). And some of it was just me rolling out of the throttle too much. After I didn’t back out as much, it was a little bit better. But Turn 3 is just a lot more forgiving corner; a big sweeping corner. You can see the whole thing. I don’t know. There is something about the way you see and approach that corner in the transition. It’s a much more forgiving corner. You’re more worried about whether it’s going to cut when it lands or in the middle where, in (Turn) 1, you’re just hoping it sticks when you turn off into that banking.”
JOHNSON: “The only think I would add is that when you come out of the pits, at least you get a chance to go through (Turns) 3 and 4 and feel it out a little bit so you come back there with a decent understanding of what you’re going to have. Turn 1 is kind of a guessing game on how hard you can run there.”
MATT KENSETH WAS THE FIRST CAR OUT AND HE SAT ON THE POLE. DOES THAT TIMING MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE OR IS IT JUST HIS CAR AND HIS LAP THAT MADE HIM BETTER THIS EVENING?
JOHNSON: ‘It’s just a short session, I don’t believe it did much.”