NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COCA-COLA 600
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
MAY 21, 2015
KEVIN HARVICK LEADS TEAM CHEVY IN COCA-COLA 600 QUALIFYING
Five Chevrolet SS Drivers to Start in Top 12 on Sunday
CONCORD, NC – (May 21, 2015) – Current NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick will be the first Chevrolet SS in the 43-car starting grid for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the longest race of the season on the Cup circuit. Harvick, who drives the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevy SS, and teammate Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS were the two fastest cars in the second of three rounds in the knockout qualifying format, but neither held their positions in the final round. Harvick will start eighth and Stewart will start 12th.
Three other Team Chevy drivers will start the 400-lap race in the top 12: Kyle Larson, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevy SS, Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet SS, and Austin Dillon, who drives the No. 3 Cheerios Chevy SS will start in 9th, 10th, and 11th, respectively.
Matt Kenseth (Toyota) won the pole position. Joey Logano (Ford), Carl Edwards (Toyota), Greg Biffle (Ford) and Denny Hamlin (Toyota) will start second through fifth, respectively.
The 400-lap/600-mile 56th annual Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday May 24. Live coverage will be available on FOX, PRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER/JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 8TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“We were just too tight. The Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet team worked really hard all day and that gives us a decent starting position for Sunday. It’s a long race and we will have to keep up with our adjustments to stay up front all race long.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 10TH
NOT WHAT YOU WANTED, BUT 10TH IS A GOOD STARTING SPOT:
“A tenth in Charlotte; I’d probably take that any day (laughs). We were going into the second round and I’m just like I don’t know. I just suck at qualifying here. And then I missed the line in (Turns) 1 and 2 and we were like 21st in the second round and had to re-run. And we went up to sixth. So, all in all it was a crazy session but I’m glad we made the third round and had a decent, respectful effort.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 14TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:
“We started today in qualifying trim and kind of hung out on the tight side. We were tight in the first session, tight in the second one and then the third run we really threw a lot to free it up and we were still tight. It kind of reminded me of Kansas two weeks ago in qualifying trim. We are going to really just jump in on that box and figure out what we have on the qualifying trim side.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 18TH
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MISSING THE LAST ROUND OF QUALIFYING JUST BY A LITTLE BIT?
“I’m just disappointed. The car definitely had speed in it. That first run the car was near perfect. I was really happy with it and looking forward to the next session, maybe even the third session. We knew that the track would probably tighten up. I carried a lot of speed down into (Turn) 1 and just never could get to the white line. Looking at the times that the guys ran up top, up front there I think I had to be that aggressive. But at the time I was thinking maybe I drove in there a little bit too aggressive. I certainly know we have a much better car than that. It’s a shame for the Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet team that we weren’t able to back up what we did the first time out there. But now we just go to work on it for the race.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 LIFTMASTER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 33RD
ON HIS TIRE ISSUE DURING QUALIFYING:
“Yeah, we just had a flat left-rear (tire). It happened on my run. I was loose and about spun out in (Turn) 3 and was kind of wondering what the deal was. I knew we were really fast in practice. I came in and when I got to the stall it only had like five pounds in it, which is very low. You can’t change them unless you advance to the next round, but it was flat for I don’t know when it happened, but it was flat a long time. We start 33rd on Sunday. We have a long way to go, but I know we will have a fast Liftmaster Chevrolet. It was great today, this afternoon it was really strong. It would have been strong tonight.”
IT MUST BE PRETTY FRUSTRATING TO HAVE THAT HAPPEN IN QUALIFYING:
“It’s frustrating at any time, but it does happen. I think this is my third one since we started this style of qualifying last season. Third or fourth time we have had that, it happens. It’s part of it and you just figure out how to be really good on Sunday and pass cars.”
HOW HARD WILL IT BE TO MAKE IT UP THROUGH THE FIELD FROM YOUR STARTING?
“First off we have two practices Saturday, which will mean everything getting the balance right there. We learned a lot in the All-Star race on things we needed to work on to be better. We felt like we were about a fourth-place car there at the end of that race. We know where we need to be better. Hopefully we can apply it and be ready to go Sunday. It’s a really long race. We definitely know we don’t have to pass all of them at the start. You can take your time and get there when we need to be there. The track is going to change the entire race. Just having the right balance late in the race is what it’s all about.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER – PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
IT’S A LONG RACE, BUT DO YOU AGREE YOU HAVE TIME TO MAKE UP GROUND FROM THE 18TH STARTING SPOT?
“Oh yeah we saw the other night how important track position is. When you have a fast racecar like we do, and we showed it in the first session, then it’s our job as a team, my job as a driver to make sure you maintain that all the way through all three rounds. Even if we were a little bit off in the second round we should have advanced to round three. The car is just good enough to do that. I’m pretty disappointed right now in that lap knowing that. I will get over it and we will start working on the race. Up until then, right now we are scratching our head a little bit of why the car got so tight that second run compared to the first one.”
ANY EMOTIONS GOING INTO YOUR LAST 600?
“If this was my final race ever I think it would be different. I have a whole season ahead of me. It’s just not really where my mindset it at right now. I mean a part of me kind of wishes that it was because this is a very special race and moment for me. I’m looking forward to that, but my mind is all about competition and trying to do the best job I can; try to win this race, not just go run my last 600.”
WHEN YOU MADE YOUR DECISION TO MAKE THIS YOUR LAST FULL SEASON HOW DID YOU CONSIDER THE TV ASPECT AND WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO DO AFTERWARDS AND HOW DID THE TV OPPORTUNITY FALL INTO PLACE?
“I had discussions with a lot of different people. It was on the table and that is why I said I had an interest in it. But nothing was done until this year. I had already made the decision that I was going to step away because I have some good options; my role at Hendrick Motorsports, my role with Axalta, not to mention some other partners that have interest. When I started having the conversations about TV, which is something that I was very interested in doing. I love this sport. I love critiquing this sport and I love being a part of it. To me that is kind of like the best of both worlds. So I can step away from being a driver, but still be a part of this sport in a major way. I didn’t know if it was going to happen to be honest. It was going back and forth for a while whether it was going to happen. Eventually all the right things came together and here we are talking about it now.”
YOU SEEM LIKE YOU HAVE HAD A LOT OF FUN WITH IT AND IT COMES NATURALLY TO YOU:
“I know the XFINITY races are a lot different than a Cup race. There is going to be a lot more to learn. I had a blast, I really did. I hope I have that much fun when I’m up there in the future.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT TOWNSEND BELL RUNNING YOUR STYLE NUMBER ON HIS INDYCAR IN THE INDY 500?
“It was a while ago that I found out about the fact that they wanted to do it. I mean I thought it was very cool of Townsend (Bell) reaching out to some friends that he knew, knew me to get my thoughts on it. Of course I loved it, I thought it was amazing. I hate that I haven’t spoken to him directly. I’ve texted him and talked to some other mutual friends. But I thought it was very cool. That was before I knew that I was going to go up there and drive the pace car. I’m looking forward to seeing him. Looking forward to cheering him on and I’m very appreciative of that tribute. I thought it was a very classy, cool thing for him to do.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT HAS GONE ON IT INDY AND HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE EMERGENCY STAFF IN THE NASCAR WORLD TO HOW THEY HAVE BEEN IN INDY OVERALL?
“You know they have that staff for a reason. Those cars as shown can be very dangerous. I mean they are open wheel cars doing 230 mph around Indianapolis. I give those drivers and those teams a tremendous amount of credit for what they do. It’s a very appealing thing to watch as a spectator, but I tell you what if they hadn’t had the safety crew that they had, we might have been talking about something different right now. For that I’m very thankful that they have that crew.”
DOES THIS GARAGE NEED THAT CREW?
“I mean we have talked a lot about it. I think there are mixed opinions on it. I would like to see something like that. NASCAR has some pretty good reasons why they don’t do that. Having local emergency staff here knowing the facilities I think there is a lot to be said about that too. I think that there is no doubt that possibly saved his life and he (James Hinchcliffe) would probably say that. We are dealing with a little bit different stuff here. But after what happened with Kyle (Busch) anything can happen. You have to be ready for anything. We just want the best and I think it’s NASCAR’s job to always pursue that.”
ARE THERE ANY RESTRICTIONS ON YOU AS FAR AS WHAT YOU CAN DO AT HENDRICK (MOTORSPORTS) WHILE WORKING FOR FOX?
“The restrictions might be more at Hendrick than at FOX. I think obviously it’s going to be something that I’m going to have to respect, which I do, I love that place. It’s something I would never want to overstep the boundaries. I’m going to be conscious of it. I will probably have a conversation with the drivers and the teams about it. But I also feel like it’s going to help me stay current and up to speed on the knowledge of what is going on. As long as I’m not sharing too many details I think just speaking in general it’s going to be a huge advantage for me to have that tie to Hendrick to be able to bring some of that to the booth.”
NOW THAT YOU HAVE HALF OF YOUR PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR OUT OF THE WAY WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO FEED THAT COMPETITIVE DRIVE?
“I think it’s going to be watching my kids do whatever they do. I will tell you that being up in the booth there was an adrenaline rush there being in the booth. It’s exciting. I enjoyed it. The competition might be with myself trying to always improve and be better and do the best that I can and push myself might be the competition. But I mean I can go drive go karts and go do some other funs things. I take it so literally and serious that I take a lot of the fun out of it, because I focus so much on the competition. I won’t be able to really fully answer that until I’m out of it for a little while. It’s going to be different. I spent some time with Darrell Waltrip the other day. We had a great conversation. I’m looking forward to working with him. He said ‘I will tell you that first Daytona 500 when I wasn’t getting up to go to a drivers meeting was really different.’ He said, ‘wait until you experience that.’ I won’t really know what that’s like and what he is talking about until I go through it. It is going to be different.”