NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GOODY’S HEADACHE RELIEF SHOT 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 30, 2015
MARTIN TRUEX JR. PUTS CHEVY ON THE FRONT ROW AT MARTINSVILLE
Chevrolet SS takes four of top-5 starting spots in first race of Eliminator Round
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Oct. 30, 2015) – Martin Truex Jr. put the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet SS on the front row and thus, put himself in good position for Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The lap of 19.227 seconds/98.548 mph gives Truex, Jr. a front row start in the first race of the Eliminator Round in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. It bests the Chase contender’s third place qualifying effort at the 0.526-mile short track in the spring, and marks his career best starting spot at the paper-clipped shaped venue.
“A good pit stall is really important here, obviously,” said Truex. “We qualified third here in the spring. Honestly I didn’t know we had a car that was that fast today. We stuck with it. The guys did a good job making adjustments there, and we got quicker each round. That’s what you’ve got to do. It’s a good starting spot for tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do with it. We’re looking forward to it.”
AJ Allmendinger scored his third-best start of the season with a third place qualifying effort in his No. 47 Kroger/Clorox Chevrolet SS. It was also his third top-10 start at Martinsville Speedway. Jamie McMurray posted the fourth fastest lap of the final round in his No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS.
Eight-time Martinsville winner, Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet SS, will start his final race at the track from the fifth position – giving Chevrolet four of the top-5 starting spots for Sunday’s event. Gordon, also a Team Chevy Chase contender, is vying for his first win of the 2015 season.
Ryan Newman was seventh-fastest time in the No. 31 WIX Filters Chevrolet SS and Kyle Larson was ninth in his No. 42 Target Plaid Chevrolet SS.
Two other Chevy drivers in contention for this season’s championship, Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet SS and Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy Chevrolet SS, will start 12th and 15th respectively.
Joey Logano (Ford) was the pole winner.
The 500-lap Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway is scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m., ET on Sunday. Live coverage will be available on NBCSN, MRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
MARTIN TRUEX JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/VISSER PRECISION CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 2nd
POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
YOU CONTINUE TO DEFY ODDS WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF THIS RACE TEAM. SOLID IN PRACTICE & QUALIFYING, AND YOU’RE STARTING ON THE FRONT ROW. TAKE US THROUGH THE DAY AND GIVE US YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT SUNDAY’S RACE
“Practice was good today. We had a plan coming in and honestly didn’t really know going into Qualifying that we’d have that good of speed. In every round, we just kept making adjustments and got it better. So, hat’s off to the crew. They did a good job and this is definitely a good start to the weekend for us. Tomorrow is what really matters; getting into those long runs and getting some rubber on the race track and see if we can dial it in. Last time here we were decent, but we weren’t good enough to win and we’d like to change that.”
MARTINSVILLE HASN’T BEEN YOUR BEST TRACK, BUT THIS YEAR WE’VE SEEN YOU TURN IT AROUND. WHAT’S BEEN THE DIFFERENCE THIS YEAR?
“Honestly, really the last couple of years I feel like I’ve started to get my arms around this place a little bit. It’s a really tricky track. The hard part about it is you never face the conditions on the race track that you’re going to see on Sunday. You have to always look ahead and really take an educated guess on what the race track is going to do. For a long time, throughout my career, really struggled with that. I would always get my car dialed-in on Saturday and then on Sunday it wouldn’t be any good. It’s hard to learn that without that experience. I never really had any teammates that were really good here, to lean on, up until 2012 when Bowyer had figured the place out when we were at MWR together. We leaned on that a little bit and I learned what not to do and since then, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at this place. At the end of the day, it’s all about the team you’re with and my guys have just done a great job of helping me figure it out and have a race car that’s close to where I need it on Sunday.”
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF RACING THIS TRACK?
“The track conditions change for the race. Again, if we see conditions tomorrow by the end of the day, like we’ll see in the race, I’ll be surprised. It’s just one of those deals where you never know what you’re going to have on Sunday and you really have to guess and make your car adjustable and hope that you can hit it right.”
YOU MENTIONED THE TRACK NOT TAKING A LOT OF RUBBER. IF IT DOESN’T THROUGHOUT TOMORROW, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO ADJUST YOUR PLAN FOR SUNDAY TO PLAN ON THE REAR TIRES WEARING OUT A LOT THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE RACE?
“I think so. In the spring we didn’t get a lot of rubber on the race track during the race. Conditions are similar. It’s pretty cool, temperature-wise. We’re in for a little bit of rain maybe on Sunday, it looks like. Certainly all those things are going to come into play.”
THE SCHEDULE FOR 2016 CAME OUT THIS WEEK. IS THERE ANYTHING ABOUT IT THAT YOU REALLY LIKE OR THAT YOU WOULD TWEAK OR CHANGE?
“I didn’t look at it that closely yet. We’re still in this year. I’m not the kind of guy that plans ahead. I get in trouble for that a lot. I’m a guy. I don’t plan ahead. And I haven’t even looked at next year’s schedule. We’ve got to get through this year first.”
EVERYBODY TALKS ABOUT TALLADEGA BEING THE BULLET EVERY BODY HAS TO DODGE. WHERE DOES THIS RACE STACK UP IN TERMS OF BEING A RACE THAT COULD REALLY CAUSE YOU SOME TROUBLE?
“Well, it’s definitely one of them. No track ranks up there with Talladega as far as just that opportunity of just a disaster. But, this one is up there around New Hampshire. New Hampshire is one of those tracks where guys get nervous because restarts are important and it’s hard to get going. Guys on the inside have a tendency to get loose and take people out. It’s similar here. Restarts are really tough. You really hope and pray and try to plan on those pit stops leaving pit road, to try to get the bottom lane on those restarts because it’s so critical. So that’s certainly a part of it. Track position. And then, you know a pit road penalty or something like that here late in the race….this is one of those places where it’s really difficult to make it up. You’ve got to be mistake-free here and there’s always that potential anywhere we go; but short tracks, it’s definitely hard to make those spots up.”