NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AXALTA ‘WE PAINT WINNERS’ 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES
JUNE 3, 2016
KEVIN HARVICK LEADS TEAM CHEVY AT POCONO
Six Chevy SS Drivers to Start in Top 12 at the “Tricky Triangle”
POCONO, Pa. – June 3, 2016 – Six quick Chevrolet SS drivers placed their race cars in the top 12 starting positions for Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winner’s” 400 at Pocono Raceway. Rain early in the day limited on-track time in the first practice session at the 2.5-mile venue. Some drivers were able to make a mock qualifying run, but there were many unknowns headed into Friday afternoon’s knockout qualifying session. 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick led the charge for Team Chevy in his No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, placing his machine fourth on the starting grid for 160 laps/400 miles of racing.
Harvick was followed in the order by his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Tony Stewart. The veteran driver made the final round of qualifying for the first time since October of 2015. Stewart put the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet SS in the sixth starting spot for Sunday.
Former Pocono winners and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS will start seventh and eight respectively.
Two-time winner at the “Tricky Triangle”, Kurt Busch, will take the green flag from the ninth starting spot. Kasey Kahne piloting the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS rounded out the Chevrolet power in the top 12 and will start from the 11th position.
Brad Keselowski (Ford) won the pole, Joey Logano (Ford) will start second, Matt Kenseth (Toyota) will start third and Card Edwards (Toyota) will start fifth to round out the Top 5 starters.
All the action from Pocono Raceway begins on Sunday June 5th at 1 p.m., ET. Live coverage will be available on FoxSports 1, MRN Radio, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 4th
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN
“It was good. The car was definitely better than the driver. But I think as you look at how fast the car is, I just made a lot of mistakes in really all three rounds. I was just trying to get too much out of it instead of just letting the car do the work as fast as it is. But all in all, those were still pretty good laps. We made one lap of practice this morning, that’s all. We’ve got some work to do tomorrow, but most of all, on the driver’s rhythm!”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 13th
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF QUALIFYING?
“It was decent, I thought, to show up and not really have but just a few laps today, was tough. Not an excuse, but tough, for sure. We will take what we have. It’s a decent spot. I think 13th is good enough to race in. We just need to get out car the best we can tomorrow and try to go get them on Sunday.”
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO WORK ON TOMORROW FOR SUNDAY?
“I think just me; and finding consistency and what I’m looking for in a lap. I was doing a lot of guessing right there of how far to drive into the corner and where to get back on the gas; all that stuff. I was just trying repeat it, lap after lap, and find some consistency in race runs. That’s going to be important.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 KALAHARI RESORTS CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 22nd
NOT QUITE ENOUGH TO MAKE IT TO THE FINAL ROUND WHAT MORE DID YOUR CAR NEED?
“I’m not real sure, just felt like it wasn’t super-fast down the straightaway. We feel like we have a good balance with the Kalahari Chevrolet in the corners. I don’t know. We didn’t get any practice time; lack of one run probably hurt us today. We will keep working on it. We have plenty of time tomorrow to make it good for Sunday, Monday or Tuesday.”
WHAT IS GOING TO BE THE FOCUS OF PRACTICE TOMORROW?
“Just getting it to drive good and be competitive mostly off of Turn 3. The front straightaway is so long you get a lot of draft and a lot of passing gets done on the front straightaway more so than the other corners.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 26th
“We were a little bit loose in the first run and made some adjustments there. I don’t know that we made it worse we just weren’t able to make the balance any better on entry. I don’t feel like this track really gives you a very good perspective of how fast the entry is. When you are loose in and you are wanting to down shift you know that when you down shift it’s going to get worse. So, just had to wait a little longer on my down shifts from being loose in and then just couldn’t commit back to the throttle.”
Connect with Team Chevy on social media. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TeamChevy, follow us on Twitter @TeamChevy, and add +TeamChevy into your Google+ circles.
Team Chevy racing photos are available at: http://media.gm.com/product/public/us/en/gmracing/photos.html
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 115 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
