NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
APRIL 26, 2013
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED THIRD
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN:
“I knew I was close. I came across the line and I said ‘man please tell me that is it’ because I knew we were talking hundredths at this place. The first lap I went to get in the gas off of (turn) four and the back end jumps out that was pretty much it for that lap. I tried to feel the car out and see what it was doing it felt like it was doing the things it wanted to do the second lap. I drove into (turn) one really deep and just didn’t quite turn as good as I needed it to. I knew that was a good corner, but not a great corner so I tried to make up for it down here. I actually got through there really good. Came up a little bit short, but still all-in-all a great day for the Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 QUAKER STATE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED FOURTH
ARE YOU SEEING THE SAME PICK UP THAT A LOT OF THESE OTHER GUYS ARE SEEING?
“We picked up a good bit more. Our qualifying run in practice we were off a little bit. They changed the car around and felt really good there. I was just a touch tight, but really close and happy with the Quaker State Chevrolet.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 15THON HIS LAP“Well, the track picks up a good bit. It’s kind of tough to gauge that speed when your are the first of a couple of cars out. But I’m proud of the guys on the Outback Chevrolet. They did a good job working through some adjustments today and I feel like we have a better handle on our race package than we do on our qualifying package.”
HOW IS THIS TRACK GOING TO CHANGE FROM TODAY TO TOMORROW NIGHT WHEN YOU GO GREEN UNDER THE LIGHTS?
“I don’t know if it matters as much as is anticipated. It’s going to change, but it all depends on where you start and what issues you have to deal with. It definitely picks up a good bit of grip. But just like you see right there, hat was sis-tenths quicker than our practice speed.”
DANICA PATRCK NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED
“It’s a lot faster now than it was. It’s cooled off and it turned pretty well. Getting into the center it just felt like I was chasing the rear. So, that was a decent run. I think we had a decent pick-up and we’ll just see how that translates into the rest of the qualifying.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AIRGAS/BULWARK CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED: 16RG
WAS THAT A GOOD RUN?
“Not particularly. We went through (Turns) 1 and 2 really good on the second lap but I overdrove the entrance into (Turn) 3 and got up the track, and not being on the bottom when the exit got me loose coming to get the checkered. So, I let my guys down a little bit. The grip level is so much more than it was in practice but I just pushed it a little too hard.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 19TH
IS IT A DISADVANTAGE TO GO OUT EARLY?
“Yeah, I think it’s an advantage to go out when the track is cooler and has a lot more grip. But I thought we would still be able to run pretty well. We qualified really well last year, so I wasn’t really too worried. I thought we’d still get a pretty decent spot and I don’t really know where I was going to end up. I don’t know that we ran as well as we thought we would and even against the competition we were around even in the beginning of the order. So, we’ll just have to see.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT
“I expected a little bit more. I thought we practiced a little bit better in qualifying trim that probably where we were going to end up. But our McDonald’s Chevy was really good in race trim. We did, I think as many long runs as anybody and the car was really comfortable; which I think was a big deal here. And it had pretty good speed. So, we learned some stuff in qualifying trim that I hope we can apply to our race package. So yeah, everything is going good for us.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 DEPEND CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 6TH:
WAS THIS THE LAP YOU WERE LOOKING FOR?
“Our Depend Chevy did pretty good. But in qualifying trim we never really got the car to my liking. But I’m pretty happy with the result but I wanted a little more.”
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