MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
OCTOBER 20, 2017
TOP TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIERS:
* Current Team Chevy Playoff Contender
POS. DRIVER
9TH * JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVY SS
12TH AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVY SS
13TH * JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVY SS
14TH * KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVY SS
15TH * CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVY SS
TOP FIVE QUALIFIERS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
2nd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3rd Ryan Blaney (Ford)
4th Matt Kenseth (Toyota)
5TH Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
The Hollywood Casino 400 is scheduled to begin on Sunday, October 22nd at 3 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES & QUOTES:
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 9th
ON HIS RUN AND HIS OUTLOOK WITH HIS CAR:
“I thought we would be a little bit better. I thought the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) was going to be a little bit better too. The track was quite a bit slower on the first round, which I think that threw everyone for a little bit of a curveball because it was cooler out. Shocking that it wouldn’t have been quite a bit faster. And the balance was a little bit different. It was weird to me that Kyle (Larson) was fighting a different balance issue than I was from practice. Our cars kind of went two different directions. But, it wasn’t bad. We could get through (Turns) 1 and 2 really good, we couldn’t get through (Turns) 3 and 4 and lost all of our time down there.”
WERE YOU NERVOUS WHEN YOUR CAR WAS STILL IN THE INSPECTION LINE FOR THE FIRST ROUND:
“No, because it’s pretty common now. The whole LIS machine we rolled through, I don’t know, four times earlier today and had no issues, didn’t change anything because we didn’t have an issue, so you don’t know when you got your bad read. But, you get nervous when there are a lot of cars in line and there weren’t a lot in line, so I knew we would have another shot there.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 12th
TOP 12 EFFORT FOR YOU TODAY TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN:
“Yeah, it was a solid qualifying effort for the No. 3 Dow Chevy. I think it was good. I screwed up in round three. I overdrove the car and that just killed our lap. So, I’m mad at myself, because we had a good second round and I just tried to get a little bit more and it wasn’t there. Just trying to get all I could get there and it didn’t turn and it should have. I wish it would have.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 13th
AS YOU RE-RUN THE LAP IN YOUR HEAD, WHERE COULD YOU HAVE FOUND TWO ONE-HUNDREDTHS OF A SECOND?
“That’s so small. That’s a wind gust (laughs). But, the thing I’m looking at is progression through the grounds and what we did over practice and that was all turning the right way. I think my effort level was kind of dialed-in a little differently today and a little better. Certainly, we want to be better than that. But, when I look at the fact that I out-qualified my teammates, we got faster through the rounds, starting closer to the front than we have in quite a few weeks, there are some good takeaways from today. Qualifying, as we all know, isn’t my sweet spot and I’m trying so hard to get better at that. This is a good week for me and we’re trying to discover some things to get better. I think I can say I’ve gotten a little bit better.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 14th
YOU WERE FAST IN PRACTICE, SO WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU LOST SOME SPEED?
“I was quite a bit tighter in qualifying than I was in practice. The track had a little bit more rubber on it, so maybe we just didn’t keep up with the conditions. But, yeah, I’m disappointed in 14th after being so much faster than everybody in practice, but we’re okay. We’ll race good and hopefully be there at the end to try and get a win.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 15th
TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN AND WHAT MORE YOU MIGHT HAVE NEEDED TO ADVANCE TO THE FINAL ROUND?
“Yeah, I really don’t know. I don’t know that it’s one thing we need right there. We kind of struggled today and didn’t really hit on anything. So, just needed to find some more pace and certainly the balance could be slightly better and I think if we fix that a little bit the pace will be there at least.”