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[/media-credit]KASEY KAHNE LEADS THE WAY FOR TEAM CHEVY IN QUALIFYING AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Team Chevy Drivers Occupy Five of the Top-11 Starting Positions for the Samsung 500
FT. WORTH – (April 13, 2012) – Kasey Kahne led the way for Team Chevy in his No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet by earning the fifth starting position for Saturday night’s Samsung 500, round seven in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tour. This was the sixth top-10 qualifying effort for Kahne this season.
A total of 45 cars took turns for a run at the front row on the 1.5-mile oval. When the 43-car field was set, five Team Chevy drivers scored top-11 starting positions for the 334-lap/501 mile race. In addition to Kahne, other top Chevrolet starters are: Ryan Newman, No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet – 6th; Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet – 9th; Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Chevrolet -10th and Paul Menard, No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet – 11th.
Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota) won the pole, Matt Kenseth (Ford) qualified second, Greg Biffle (Ford) qualified third and Mark Martin (Toyota) qualified fourth.
The Samsung 500 is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m., ET with coverage on FOX, PRN Radio and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 5th:
ON HIS LAP
“It was a pretty good qualifying lap. The Farmers Insurance Chevrolet was pretty good through (Turns) 1 and 2 and then was a little tight in (Turns) 3 and 4. And actually, I was a little tight getting into (Turn) 1 also. I didn’t get down to the line as fast as I would have liked. We carried decent speed; not nearly as good as Martin (Truex Jr.) did. But hopefully it’ll be a top five. I don’t know. It might be a top ten; we’ll see.”
YOU DON’T SEEM UNHAPPY ABOUT IT
“It’s just that Martin (Truex) beat us by a good bit. There was definitely more out there. We were just a little on the snug side.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 6TH:
ON THE LAP:
“We’ve got a starting spot for our U.S. Army Chevrolet. The guys worked really hard to give us a good racecar and it paid off with a top-10 starting spot. I think we’ve got a good car for tomorrow, so I’m confident.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 9th
HOW WAS YOUR LAP?
“That was a good lap. Even if you’re in 40th here, it feels like you had a good lap. So I wasn’t sure what we had. It felt better than practice. So I’m happy. Our Bass Pro Shops Chevy has been good.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 10th
JUDGING BY FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, I DON’T THINK YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO BE AT THE TOP OF THE BOARD FOR VERY LONG
“No; it was a great half-lap. It’s so frustrating when you can’t get a great full lap. We had a lot of speed in the car, but I just didn’t get through (Turns) 3 and 4 like I needed to. Hopefully that will hold up but I think I left a considerable chunk out there and we’ll slip back. But we’ll show up tomorrow night and race like heck.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 QUAKER STATE/MENARDS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 11TH
HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “We had a pretty decent lap. I messed up a little bit in turns three and four probably drove it in a little too hard started losing the nose then we started to get it back. Turns one and two felt good, place we can race with tomorrow.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 DIET MOUNTAIN DEW/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 16th
YOU WERE AT THE TOP OF THE BOARD FOR A WHILE. HOW DOES THAT LAP WORK FOR YOU?
“Not real good. We had a pretty good Turn 1 and 2, but in (Turns) 3 and 4, the car got real tight. I couldn’t get back to the throttle and it cost us a lot of time down there. But we still got an okay lap. So, I think we would have had a real good lap if we could have gotten through 3 and 4 a little bit better. But we’ll race good.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 51 PHOENIX CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, INC. CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 27TH
ON HIS LAP:
“We were just way, way, way too loose,” said Busch, winner of the 2009 fall race at Texas. “We just missed it. We anticipated the track changing and it just didn’t change the way we thought it would.”
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design and high quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
