Chevy NASCAR Notes - Daytona 500 Qualifying, Feb. 13
CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES
DAYTON A 500 QUALIFYING
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
February 13, 2005
DERRIKE COPE, NO. 55 S.W.A.T. FITNESS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 52nd:
(DO YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT QUALIFYING TODAY?)
"It's not enough for the qualifying spots that are available on speed. Certainly our car didn't do that. The car drafted exceptionally well down here at testing and I foresee that happening on Thursday. That's what it will come down to. We'll get out mindset straight for the drafting practice. We'll be a factor come Thursday."
(ON THE ADDED PRESSURE)
"I come down here every year having this same thing happen, so we'll do the best we can. I know what I need to do in a drafting situation. I know what my needs are in the race car and we'll do that in the next few days. Come Thursday, we'll be strong."
DALE EARNHARDT, JR. NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 39th -
(WILL YOU CAPTURE THE POLE TODAY?) "I've got a lot of work to do to get there. I think we have a car that will be in the top 15, top 20. We'll get a pretty good start for Thursday. We've got a car that I think will be strong in race trim. The easier it is to drive it on Thursday, the better."
(HOW WAS YOUR RUN?) "It's hard to do it by myself. We're way, way down on horsepower. And that's just the simple fact of it. The car races really well in the draft. If everything works fine, we'll have a good race on Thursday and get up front sooner or later. But, to run by ourselves, we need more steam underneath the hood. I've kind of seen it coming and the test wasn't that good."
"We've been real slow since we've been here. We were slow in the test. So our expectations have been pretty low as far as qualifying. We picked up a little bit so that made the team happy. We picked up about a tenth. But we didn't expect to be real high on the board."
(IS THE CAR GOOD IN RACE TRIM?) "Yeah, the car's good in race trim. We you don't have as fast a car, it makes it a little tougher. But I think I can get it up front. We're just going to have to work a little harder."
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 31st -
(HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT QUALIFYING TODAY?)
"It's good to be here. I've got to thank everyone at Bass Pro Shops and everyone at DEI. These guys worked all winter to put this car together and I'm just trying to get in the race. We'll see what happens today but Thursday will be more important, I think.
(WHAT ABOUT THE PRESSURE?)
"We just have to hope we get a good qualifying today and get a guarantee spot. I think that's how it works. If we don't do that we'll just have to race our way in. If we make it, we make it and if we don't, I guess we'll try again next year. I'd be really disappointed if that happened so we'll just have to try really hard."
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 3rd -
(ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO QUALIFYING?)
"Well, I'm just so impressed with the job these guys have done on this DuPont Chevrolet. Preparing for Daytona takes a lot of time and effort and these guys have put a lot into it. So far it's been paying off and we hope it pays off when we put these two laps on the track. This is definitely as good as it gets for us. This baby is slick, it's fast, it's got a lot of power and we're having fun so far. We hope we continue to have fun after this run is over."
(YOU'RE FAST. HOW WAS THE RUN?)
"I want to thank everyone back at the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet team in the shop. The chassis, aero guys, engineers-there is so much hard work put into this season but also into Daytona. That was everything we've got right there. You know, we definitely slowed down. I think there is a little bit more wind here today than yesterday. I definitely feel it hurt me in the back straightaway. We've just got to keep our fingers crossed. It was a good lap but not exactly what we were hoping for. We're just going to have to wait and see."
(ON THE PAINT SCHEME)
"That is an awesome paint job. If you just look at the small details of that car, it's pretty impressive."
(IT SEEMS YOU'VE MADE AN AERO IMPROVEMENT IN THE OFF SEASON)
"I feel like we've always been known for good power-good, reliable power. But you know, those guys never stop working to get more. It's the job of the entire team to make sure we have the complete package with the aerodynamics as well. I feel that this one is one of the best cars we've ever put out there."
BORIS SAID, NO. 36 CENTRIX CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:
(ARE YOU PROUD OF YOUR QUALIFYING TIME TODAY?)
"I'm most proud of my son Boris, Jr. at home watching. HE just turned a year old. You know, this is a far cry from what I'm used to. I'm used to driving BMWs all over the world and they've been like a family to me. Centrix has given me a great opportunity to come out here and race in the greatest race in the world, the Daytona 500. I can't thank Rick Hendrick enough. Those Hendrick motors are unbelievable. I've got a great team and a great crew chief. Joe Nemechek has helped me out a lot. It's just a team effort. I'm just a small piece of it. We're having a blast in Speedweeks. I'm just going to go have a hot dog and watch on pins and needles for the rest of qualifying. Hopefully I can make the race and go out there and run decent and not do anything stupid to make any of the veterans mad. Hopefully we can be there at the end with our Centrix Chevrolet."
SCOTT RIGGS, NO. 10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 6th -
(HOW WAS YOUR LAP?)
"The team did a great job. Everybody back at the shop-Big Mike and everyone in the fab shop-keep building great race cars. Our downforce stuff is even better and of course our speedway program is getting better and better. I just want to thank everyone on the No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet. It's good to have good teammates like Boris Said and Joe Nemechek so you can play with and have a good time with. Boris is someone who can lighten up the whole scene. And then you've got Joe who you can always go to. He's got a ton of experience and can just shoot from the hip. It's good to have a good car and be close to the front. But the good thing about this car is that it runs so well. And they've worked so hard to make them go fast and they drive so well. It's exciting for me."
ROBBY GORDON, NO. 7 JIM BEAM CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "You always try to think you've got a little more for qualifying. But you know, this is Daytona. I think a lot of guys will slow down a little bit from what they ran in practice, because you get a little bit of the whirlwind effect going on when you have cars out there. We're pretty with that time. It'll hopefully get us a good starting spot for the 150 and we'll take our chances from there. There are only 35 cars that are guaranteed into this deal. So there are about 20 cars trying to get one of those extra eight spots. We're trying to do the best job we can for Chevrolet and Jim Beam and all of our sponsors."
(HOW HARD IS IT TO GET SETTLED IN TO THIS DRIVER/OWNER ROLE AS YOU BEGIN A NEW SEASON?) "It was obviously a big undertaking in the beginning. But we've got the right management in the right positions. Actually I get to play the driver of the race team even though it happens to have my name on the front door. But I've got a great general manager with John Story and Bob Temple and Patrick Donahue are doing a great job crewing the car. We've been able to assemble a great group of, I wouldn't call them 'new' guys because they've been involved in motorsports for many years, but just 'new' at working together. I think we'll have a very competitive year."
(ANYTIME YOU START A NEW BUSINESS, THINGS CAN GET BEHIND IN THE EARLY GOING. IS EVERYTHING ON SCHEDULE AT THIS POINT?) "For us, I think we're a little behind. Any new race team will always be behind for a while because you race against some of the best and most established teams in the business. But we've got out car count. We're working hard trying to build that up. Our fab shop is running close to 18- hour shifts trying to get us properly built race cars that we can be competitive with. We made the test here in Daytona and went to the Las Vegas test and the California test. So I think we've got the next three races kind of under our belt now and we'll just have to take it one step at a time."
JASON LEFFLER, NO. 11 FEDEX CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: "I'm relieved. We came down here for testing and we lacked some speed. We went back to the shop and Jimmy Makar and Dave Rogers told me, 'Don't worry, we got it handled.' And, they sure did. It's great to be driving for such a great organization. I think we're pretty much locked in now so I can go into Thursday's 150s and learn as much as I can and race hard and get ready for the Daytona 500.
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 4th - It just shows how well the guys know how to work on this GM Goodwrench Chevrolet. This is the same car we raced last year. We ran in the top 5 all four races and decided to work on our downforce stuff. We thought our restrictor plate stuff was pretty good. Maybe everybody will leave us alone now and act like we know what we're doing. It's a great job by all the guys on our team.
(YOU'VE WORKED HARD TO DEVELOP YOUR AERO PACKAGE) "No, and we've taken a lot of flack in this off season for not showing up to the test and really trying to take some time for ourselves to work on our restrictor plate program and things like that. I think a lot of times, the RCR bunch are the forgotten people in the restrictor plate shuffle and these guys have been good at it for a long time. One of these times we're going to win one of these races and not finish second and all that stuff can go away."
(HOW WILL THE CAR REACT ON THURSDAY AND IN THE 500?) "We've got a good notebook on this car. We haven't tore it up. All the body pieces and components are the same as they were last year. We've got a good place to start and that's a good thing."
BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 24th (HAVE CONDITIONS CHANGED YOUR QUALIFYING STRATEGY?) "It might be a little bit different from what it was earlier. An earlier draw might have been a little better. The wind has picked up a little bit and it is a bit warmer. Some guys are still running some pretty fast times, so maybe it hasn't changed as much as we think.
(DO YOU NEED A GOOD STARTING POSITION FOR THE 150's?) "You might not need one but you want one. I'll take a good starting spot. It's harder to pass now than it was then, so it's still important. But obviously if you start in the back, you can still get in the front, it just depends on how you get there and what you do. I'd rather want a good starting spot than need a good starting spot.
JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 5th - "I'd just like to thank everybody back at the shop. This is just about as close as you can build. I think we have eight speedway cars and they all run just about identically. That's a pretty good feat for those guys back at the shop. I'd also like to thank Hendrick Motorsports for the engines. The motors run good and that makes our job a lot easier. But that's about all I had. I said if we could run a low ninety, I'd be happy. I wanted to run in the eighties. Jeff Gordon ran in the eighties and I'd like to have been there. But that's not going to be the pole. The Yates cars are going to be fast. I believe the No. 38 car might have a shot at it. Pretty quick times today."
(ON THE RESTRICTOR PLATE PROGRAM) "We really came on strong. Our restrictor plate program was strong the whole year. This is the car I ran in the last race and it ran so good I wanted to bring it back here. But our whole program is good. Ryan Pemberton (crew chief) and I have developed good communication and chemistry there. We just hit it off. I can tell him what I feel I need and he can go in that direction and we usually get the cars pretty close. Here at Daytona, this is going to turn into a handling race. You're going to have to have a little bit of luck - a lot of luck - and a good driving race car. If you can do that at the end of the day, hopefully we'll be the guys up front."
MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 33rd - "I've got to thank Teresa (Earnhardt) and Richie (Gilmore) and everybody at DEI for giving me the opportunity. They've put me with a bunch of guys that have won races and won championships and wow - what an opportunity to get in a car like this and have people around you with those types of credentials. It makes me want to jump up and down. So I'm ready to race and looking forward to it."
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 16th, top Raybestos Rookie-Of-The-Year candidate - PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
(ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP) "I'm definitely pleased. We came down here for testing and we never thought we had a shot to qualify in the top 20. They were some cars that were pretty decent but they needed some work to be top 10, top 15 compatible.
"The guys went back to the shop, they cut on them a bunch and were able to come back to the 500 with a pretty decent car. The car drove really well when we were down here testing in the draft. It was only 8 or 10 cars sometimes. But getting out there with the full 42 will be fun. We're really looking forward to it. But as far as today goes, we're happy we are the top Rookie qualifier. Hopefully we can be here many more times but I'm sure Travis will have something to say about that.
(ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE GATORADES?) "Definitely. The Gatorade Duel is going to be a big race for us. Obviously, we're in the show being as though we're in the top 35 in owner's points from last year with Terry being the seat. I look forward to the Duel races. It's going to be a lot of fun; I look forward to getting out there. Hopefully we can earn some respect from some of the veterans out there during practices on Wednesday in order to prepare ourselves for the Duel on Thursday. That will help so we can try to run up front.
"The cars have been doing well for me. I've been getting used to them a lot quicker. I've got a great crew chief in Alan Gustafson. He's been around the Cup level for a long time. As far as everything goes this year-we're all one team. The 5, 25 and 44 are together like the 24 and 48 have been successful with. We're looking forward to making sure that that runs as well as the 24 and 48 did. Brian Whitsel is the key operator trying to make sure all the key people are there. Hopefully we can make the most of our opportunity with Mr. Hendrick."
(WHY ARE THERE SO FEW ROOKIES THIS YEAR?) "I don't know. You tell me. I guess there are limited opportunities out there that there aren't many rides coming open this year. I think there were a lot of great rookies last year.
"Obviously they showed potential. Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers showed a few strong runs. We're looking forward to this year with myself and Travis Kvapil.
"Boris Said should make a few runs and I believe Eric McClure should make most of the starts as well. It's going to be a lot of fun. With just a few of us it's going to be easier to pay attention that with a lot of guys out there."
(WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY FOR THE DUEL?) "Keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble. We want to make sure we get through there and just kind of salvage a finish to get to the 500. IF we can finish somewhere up front, obviously, that would be great. Seeing as though the front row is the only row that's set when you come to Daytona, if you don't have a pole winning car you're not overly excited for the qualifying, you're just ready for the Duel races. So, that's what we focused on when we were here in testing, knowing that we didn't have a car that was going to go for the pole. We made it drive good for the race, so hopefully we can work on it more in practice to make it run better."
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - QUALIFIED 2ND -- PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
"I knew that we could run an .80 again. We felt really comfortable with the time we ran yesterday and felt that was realistic time that we could back up. Then I was watching the TV broadcast and noticed the speeds started to slow down quite a bit. My first reaction was, 'wow, we've got a shot at this deal' and then the next reaction was that if the conditions change that much, I'm going to slow down as well. So, I had mixed emotions going into it. And, I always know that Chad and the crew guys are going to give me everything they've got. So, I went in with an open mind and was hopeful to get the pole. And to come out second was a little bit of a surprise in a sense because we're not focusing on qualifying. We want to make sure we've got a good race car and one that's going to draft well. We proved that last night, so to be second, we're very excited about that. We look forward to that. We feel that we've got a better car for the 500 than we had last night."
(HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM RUNNING WITH OTHER CARS OUT THERE?) "When you're by yourself and you don't have cars around you, the air is really stable and you can change things aerodynamically on the car to make it fast down the straightaways. You can pull the fenders in and do different things like that. In the draft, you have the aero push that always comes up and we deal with that at every race track. We're going to deal with that as long as we're racing cars. It's like gravity in my opinion; we will always have the aero push. We even have it here. It's not talked about as much because the corners are really forgiving and there is a lot of banking. But, in order to run in dirty air, you've got to have a more aggressive body that grabs the air and pushes the car onto the track. So, the changes from last night to today, I know that we can get the car that we qualified today further in that direction than what we had last night. That's why we decided to bring it down. That's what we realized in the test session, when we were down here for the three days. We feel that everything is looking in the right direction for us and it's going to drive as good, if not better, than what it did last night. A lot of it just comes down to the aerodynamics of the cars. On the superspeedway tracks, the slicker the body, the less drag you have, the faster you go. But, in the race, when you don't have air to keep the car balanced, you have your hands full.
(DO YOU HAVE MOMENTUM FROM LAST NIGHT?) "I'm definitely feeling a lot of momentum. I don't feel that I'm very responsible for today's effort. I feel good about my performance last night. And the guys got it done today, so I feel very good about our whole team. I'm in second, Jeff's in third and then you've got the 10, 01 and 36 there as well. So, everything to do with Hendrick Motorsports is rocking. They've worked so hard over the winter and we've really felt we've made some good personnel changes and we have everybody pulling in the same direction. We have four teams working harder than ever together, which is an important thing. I think it's showing up and I'm very proud of everybody. I think last night was my best plate race. I felt that every move I made was calculated. I didn't lose a position or wasn't left out at any point. Everything I did worked out for me. I'm very proud of that. It was a short race and I'm sure in the 500 I'll make some moves that don't work out. But, it's just part of the territory.
(ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NOW AND YEARS PAST) "It's a night and day difference. Experience is everything in our sport, especially on the plate tracks. And my first year, from coming here for the 500 versus the Pepsi 400, it was a huge difference. And now to be here on the start of my fourth season, I'm so much more comfortable. I feel like I was racing ARCA back in 2002 when I won the pole."
(HAS HENDRICK CLOSED THE GAP AT SUPERSPEEDWAYS?) "I think our team really stepped up and we were able to close that gap. Jeff won 50% of the plate races and we finished in the top 5 a few times, so I really felt that we closed the gap. Jeff was able to get it done and it's up to me to learn a few more tricks. The DEI cars are a little off as a whole; they are all mid pack but there is so much that falls into the drivers' hands during the race that I would expect to see the #8 and #15 back up during the race. They might not have the straight line speed that they want but those guys are too smart in the draft to at least be able to get a top 5 in the race."
(IS RICK HENDRICK HAPPY WITH THE WAY THE WEEK HAS GONE?)"Well, he hired me to do this. I don't know if he intended for me to do it. All four teams are working better than ever. The 24 and 48 situation has been that way and that will continue to always be that way and now we've got the 25 and the 5 under the same building. We took Brian Weitzel, who managed the 24 car forever. We took him out of there and placed him with the 5 and 25 to make all four teams virtually identical. So, we're all going to pull off of one another. If we're going to be beat we'd rather it be by one of our teammates. So, I know (Jeff Gordon's) happy for the team and happy that we're having the success we are but he's a competitor and I know he'd rather be up top. I think he's better about me beating him than the 88 beating both of us."
(IT'S BEEN A GREAT START TO SPEEDWEEKS FOR YOU) "It's been an awesome week. The Daytona 24-hour race was such a different routine for me. I can't tell you how much fun I had running the cars and at the end of the race I earned the right to finish the car which is a pretty big moment in the sports car world. I put in a good two or three stints in the middle of the night and they asked me to come back and finish the car. I was a little nervous doing that because it's when everyone puts their lead driver in the car. We had a problem with the reserve tank, and I had to run that entire last segment on a full lean mixture and I knew that the #20 car chasing me with Jan Lammers was running on a full rich. To be able to hold him off in those conditions, I was so happy with that. It was a blast. And then last night, to win my first plate race-it wasn't a points race but there was a lot of money out there and a trophy that we all wanted. I'm very proud of what we've been able to do and coming into today. The only scary thing with this is that there's only one place to go from here and that's down. So hopefully we finish up the Duels strong and carry it into the 500."
