NASCAR Chevy Notes - Atlanta Qualifying
CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES GOLDEN CORRAL 500 - QUALIFYING NOTES ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY March 18, 2005 BOBBY HAMILTON, JR., NO. 32 TIDE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: (ON HIS LAP) "It was probably the biggest rush you could ever get. To run wide open here is one thing, but to run wide open here at night, I had my shield up on my helmet and the wind just blowing up. It was incredible. I went down the back straightaway and I was screaming, 'Whooo!' It was a cool rush. I think it will give us a top 15, I hope. But, it's getting later and cooler, so there are going to be some guys that run quicker than that. We've just got to keep building our team into a consistent team and go after it." More to follow KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Note: Crashed during his qualifying attempt and will go to a back up car #316, which Terry Labonte raced in 2004 at Michigan. It was also the back up car last week for California. NASCAR is allowing the team to prepare the car on Saturday for Sunday's race. (ARE YOU OKAY... AND WHAT HAPPENED?) "Yeah, I'm okay. I don't really know what happened. We were just getting up to speed and building it up and going into Turn 3 and I turned the wheel to enter the corner and it just snapped around on me. I don't know exactly what happened. I don't think it was a tire. I didn't feel that. I haven't seen the film yet. They probably replayed it many times while I was in the Infield Care Center. I don't know it anything broke. It might have just been how cold it was outside and how cold the tires were and not just matching up to the asphalt right away. You're trying to build your speed through there and trying to hold it wide open if you can and sometimes it just doesn't work. That car that we just wrecked was a brand new race car and we were really excited to run that one. It was really good in the tunnel and everything was great on it. But it just didn't come about." KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET - COMMENTED PRIOR TO QUALFIYING: (HOW WILL THE ABSENCE OF TODD BERRIER AFFECT YOUR WEEKEND?) "Well, I don't really think it will affect our plans. As far as our plans go, Scott's been a part of our plans week in and week out for a little over a year. So, as far as that's concern, I don't think it will affect things too much. But, the car's been pretty loose since we've been here. We struggled with it, so we changed just about half of everything. It should be, hopefully, better for tomorrow. I don't know what it's going to do tonight, but we'll find out here in a minute." BOBBY HAMILTON, NO. 32 TIDE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 2nd: (WHERE DID THAT LAP COME FROM?) "Yeah, I mean, the way the Goodyear Eagles are now, the temperature of the track, the air got heavy and it hurt a lot of cars. We were fortunate enough that we got to go out early to run a good lap. A lot of the guys could have beat us but the air just killed them, so we just got lucky and it just puts us that much further ahead from the other cars come Sunday. It's a good place to start, good pit selection, so we'll just start from there and chip away from it Sunday." (WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO BEAT RYAN NEWMAN FOR THE POLE HERE?) "Yeah, when he doesn't show up! It's kind of an obvious deal. People asked me if I'd try to get after the #12 car-I was like, 'No!' I mean, he's two or three tenths better than the whole field. Whatever. They got it down. All we said about it is what we've done. So that's what we plan to do, call it a night and go after them Sunday." (AFTER LAST WEEK AND TODAY'S QUALIFYING, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE REALLY STARTING TO GET IT TOGETHER?) "I think so. I think we're still having growing pains in that we'll still have to have a few more bad runs and learn a few lessons. Hopefully this is the right path we're on. We're starting to figure out the way the spoiler likes the aero package. We're trying to figure out how the aero package, trying to figure out the rear springs that everybody is running versus what we're running and stuff. It's just a big learning curve. So, hopefully this is part of the foundation for a pretty decent, consistent race team. So, hopefully this is the right direction. The last couple of weeks have been pretty amazing to see the turnaround in the team and myself. I've learned a lot from racing with those guys. If anything, it's just pumped up the mental state and attitude and that means a lot in this sport." (ON THE SPOILER AND THE RULES) "No, Mark Martin had the best saying. Everybody said you can't ride side by side, and I don't think anybody here plans to ride side by side; they'll just pass you and go. NASCAR-they are not going to put anybody in jeopardy. It's not like they just cut half of the younger peoples' spoiler off and put all the older peoples' spoilers on. They made everybody the same, so you've got to figure out what's best for your aero package. Keep going to work. You figure out, you get it. And you can see it tonight. I mean, at Vegas, who would have thought you'd be three or four wide at Vegas? But we done it. They took it away and we just went to work on the body and got it where it's driving great. "The tires are a whole lot more forgiving. You've seen that tonight where everybody is driving wide open through there. It equals out. You've got these crew members that are working on it, trying to get better downforce and stuff. And that's what we'll keep doing." (BEING A SINGLE CAR TEAM IS THERE ANYBODY YOU CAN TURN TO FOR TECHNICAL INFORMATION?) "Not really, because, you know, for a while everybody thought we had a plague. Nobody wanted to talk to us. That's why we're all of a sudden trying to learn these things. I've got some really good friends-crew chief-wise-who are on the Cup side that my Dad has worked with. They kind of shed light on us every now and then a lot of good crew members I've grown up with in the sport. They kind of steer you in the right direction. We're just kind of taking our time to learn. 11 races ago when we first started with the team, now we have new race cars and lot of new people. Just figuring the tire pressure out, keep everybody's rears up with these springs...we're just trying to keep up and figure out where to go. We're starting to figure it out and we'll get better as we go." (WHEN THE SEASON STARTED IT WAS SAID IT WAS THE GOAL TO BE IN THE TOP 35-YOU'RE CLEARLY IN THERE NOW) "Right now, we're like 22nd or 23rd in points. That really took a lot of pressure off of us as far as trying to qualify. Because it wasn't even an issue. At Daytona, we were horrible and still got in the race. The last three races we qualified really well. It's really benefited us. It kind of makes sure that the guys who come every week and support us every week...it makes sure we're in. So, a lot of guys that show up....you know, start in the back or whatever, it kind of avoids that. It kind of makes the sport stronger. It supports people who support the sport. I think it's good. For instance, like the Chase-everyone thought it was the dumbest thing in the world, now it's 'well, that worked out pretty good.' So, they haven't been doing this this long because they've been lucky to do what they do." JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - Qualified 3rd: (HOW WAS YOUR LAP?) "When I started I was a little concerned, but once I made the turn I realized nothing bad was going to happen, I pushed a little harder...the next corner, the next corner. If I could do it all over again, I think I could run a much faster lap. If it wasn't dragging that bad, I was really worried it was going to turn me around and crashing maybe like Kyle Busch did. "So, I'm very proud of this Lowe's team and what they've been able to do here tonite. And I think this impounding procedure will probably help this #48 team get poles. We're not really that focused on qualifying. The fact that we've got to qualify our race setup, I think will help us out. Maybe we'll get a few red hats." (HOW DIFFICULT HAS IT BEEN TO PREPARE FOR THIS WEEK GIVEN ALL THE PENALTIES?) "Monday and Tuesday were a little tough. We pled our case and we told everyone what happened. We hoped NASCAR understood what happened and we were shocked on Tuesday when everything came down. That's how it is, they've got a job to do. We had a jack pulled out the back of the car-it's just something we've got to live with. The thing I'm most proud of is that we've got Chad with a group of guys who know how to do this. We know and I know how to carry the team as well. We'll be in good shape. We should be very competitive; we don't want to lose him, but if we have to, we'll be all right." (DID YOU THINK YOU HAD ANYTHING FOR THE POLE?) "It was really amazing how much grip the track had. The temperatures were up some and the track really didn't pick up too much as the night went on. So I didn't really know what to expect when qualifying started until I saw what Ryan Newman ran. So we went out and had a very good lap. I was dragging the track really bad. I know everybody is working on their race trim stuff so we're all in the same boat. But the car was dragging the track from the time I went through Turns 3 and 4 the first time. Each corner I made, the car would drag but it stayed securely under me. It kept pushing a little bit. I think I left a little bit on the table. To do it over again, maybe we'd have a little more for Ryan. It was a great qualifying for the Lowe's team. I'm really proud of my guys for the week that we've had to step up and put a car up there in the top three in qualifying and be one of the top cars in both practice sessions makes me really proud of my guys." (IS THERE ANY CONCERN ABOUT THE TIRES?) "No, Goodyear has taken some steps to make sure they've brought the right tire. They had the No. 9 car and myself here earlier this year. They ran through a lot of combinations of tires. We were here for two days of work to try to find the right tire combination. We haven't had any be tire trouble to date, fortunately, and hopefully we won't have any soon."