| Post-Race Driver Quotes: Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet – Pole Win QuotesWhere did you find that extra time when you went back out? “Yeah, that was epic! Our team did a great job. The No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet was ripping really good. I’m a lucky boy, I’ve got some great cars today — both the Cup and Xfinity car. This is pretty special. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. Practice wasn’t that great for us, but when we went out for qualifying, the car felt really good. We turned in two pretty good laps.” We heard you mention that the field has picked up its game. How do you do that for yourself? How do you up your game? “You can always do something better, right? You’re always learning. I learned a lot in the Xfinity Series car this morning, and that just gives you a great leg up for the Cup car. I think it’s great running both cars, it certainly helps.” Katherine Legge, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet “It’s a lot of pressure to come in with only 20 minutes of practice on a street course where there’s no room for error to put it in the show. I actually feel pretty good about it now. We would have been a lot faster, I think, had I not kept nicking the wall. I’ve given my crew a lot of work to do from that, but we had to keep pushing to put it in the show. I’m really proud of this team, and I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow.” Shane van Gisbergen and Michael McDowell – Front-Row Press Conference QuotesHow did you feel about your car’s race trim? Van Gisbergen: “Yeah, my practice went okay. It’s very hot, so it’s slick out there at the times. They’re a lot slower than previous years. My car felt pretty good. I probably took it too easy. I had too much left at the end of practice, but yeah, I feel like my race car was pretty good. I liked a few things, and then in qualifying, I sharpened it up. My first lap was a pretty good banker and I knew I had a lot left. And then the next lap went pretty decent… probably had two- or three-tenths left, and pretty cool to lay it down.” We saw quite a few drivers making mistakes or coming close to making mistakes today. Can you describe how on edge you guys are, and how little margin of error may be out there? Van Gisbergen: “Yeah, I think that’s the temperature. We’re over a second off, I think, from what we managed last year. The track’s just treacherous, and when it’s that hot and slick, the margin for error is just so small. On a track like this with no run-offs, you’ve really got to be — like I hit the wall two or three times, I think, on my qualifying lap. You’ve got to be that accurate and that close to the walls, and you have no margin left. I don’t blame the guys crash, it’s a very, very tough track, this one.” You guys mentioned the heat, but how do you feel like the track looks compared to the last two years – similar or different, anything stand out to you guys? Van Gisbergen: “It’s the same for me.” McDowell: “Yeah, I think everything looks the same. I mean, for a street course, it’s miraculous how good they get the corners the same every year. I think some of that is because there’s some hard stops too, right, like there’s curves on the other side, and street markers there that kind of get it that way. There’s a couple little bumps that are slightly bigger, but for the most part, it’s the same. They do a good job of having the barriers in the same spot. Visual references — I feel like they’re the same. In the first couple of years, it was a little different. But I felt like this was really consistent.” Brad Keselowski was saying that he thought there were areas of the track that were repaved last year, and they’re just much more treacherous this year…Van Gisbergen: “Yeah, I think it’s turn 12, turn 1, it’s lost a little grip and some color. But I still think that they’re the highest grip parts of the track. And there’s no bumps there, so yeah, I find it okay.” McDowell: “I think, overall, the day was just hotter. I mean we were about a second slower in qualifying and in rac, , so everywhere was a bit slicker. But yeah, there’s some new asphalt that we have to use too on the inside of turn 11. I don’t know — well SVG will use it for passing, he did last year there. But that’s about the only spot I feel like that’s much different.” You two were among the fastest at Mexico, so are either of you surprised that the other one’s on the front row with you?McDowell: “I’m not surprised at all. As Jeff Gluck said this morning, asking what I was going to do to beat SVG, obviously I didn’t do enough… he still got me about a half second there (laughs). We still got some work to do, but our race trim was good. Tomorrow will be a mixed bag with potential weather in and out, so a lot of variables to go out there and navigate.” Van Gisbergen: “He (Michael McDowell) is a good road course racer. But you never know in NASCAR. There’s 15 guys that can turn up on a road course, and that’s the beauty of this series. Everyone’s so good, so you never know on a given weekend who’s going to be the challenger, so I’m not really surprised by anything in this sport.” |
Chevrolet’s season statistics heading into the 20th NASCAR Cup Series race: