NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY NOTES & QUOTES
FEBRUARY 9, 2020
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – DAYTONA 500 POLE WINNER QUICK QUOTE:
CONGRATULATIONS ALL THE WAY AROUND. YOU CAN’T HIDE THAT SMILE. HOW GOOD DOES THIS FEEL IN YOUR DEBUT WITH JTG DAUGHERTY, TO PUT IT ON THE POLE FOR THE DAYTONA 500?
“It’s cool. Tad (Geschickter, team owner) and (wife) Jodi are back at the shop with everybody. So. I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be here and to bring guys with me like Brian (Pattie, crew chief). They’ve been working really hard. They’re in my corner. They’ve been behind me throughout all my career. Ernie (Cope, competition director) runs a great organization and a great shop. The Hendrick horsepower was amazing. Obviously we’ve got quite a few Hendrick cars right there behind us lined-up. Our Camaro ZL1 1LE was really strong. And the winds started picking up there, down the back straightaway; a little headwind for the other guys, so I’m really proud to put our Kroger Chevy on the pole on Kroger pole day for the Daytona 500. That was our goal coming down here. Pattie was working really hard all off-season for that goal. And everybody chipped in, the whole shop. We cut bodies off. We put them back on. So this goes out to the whole shop and I’ve got to thank our other partners as well. I’m looking forward to hopefully continuing this momentum on Thursday.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN, PERSONALLY, IN MAKING THE TRANSITION YOU ARE AND THEN ACCOMPLISHING WHAT YOU JUST DID?
“Yeah, it’s huge. Any time you can start the season off, your first race with an organization, and to see all the work that they’ve put in; guys at the shop that I didn’t even know were working Saturdays and late nights all for the benefit of me to come down here and jump in this car and run fast. Touring the Hendrick engine shop, they were pumped-up for me to switch over into their horsepower. So this goes to a lot of people that work hard behind the scenes for me to come out here and drive. It’s a cool way to start Speedweeks.”