Manufacturer Notes and Quotes from Auto Club Speedway

 TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:   AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW COATINGS CAMARO ZL1 = Pole Winner

“It was good. We had a good car off the trailer. They made some good adjustments going into qualifying. And we kept the speed that we needed. It came down to Round 2 and putting the placement right. Andy Houston (spotter) did a great job. We didn’t panic. And, that ended up putting us in a great position for Round 3. I’m really happy for our guys and everybody back at the shop, who has been working really hard. We’ve been frustrated the last couple of weeks because we’ve had fast cars and not gotten the finishes, so this definitely feels good.”  

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 8th WHAT WAS THE COMMUNICATION LIKE WHEN YOU GUYS REALIZED THAT YOU WERE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT BACK? WHAT WERE YOU HEARING? “Well, I don’t know. Obviously nobody wants to be the first guy so it’s unfortunate. I don’t know what the fix is. I feel like it’s entertaining with us going out there and drafting and trying to set-up that gap to do it right. It’s just tough because nobody wants to be the first one. And obviously you’re not going to go if you’re going to be first.”  

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 11th “I understand why we’re in this box. Single car qualifying isn’t all that entertaining. So, I guess we’ll just have to see what the opinion is from this and go with the lesser of the two evils in the end.”  

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 KROGER FLAVOR FILL UP CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 14th HOW DID THIS QUALIFYING SESSION PLAY OUT? WAS IT BAD OR WORSE THAN YOU THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE? “Round 1 went better than I thought it would with everybody going and getting it out of the way. The caution almost got us within a second or two. We didn’t finish our lap. So, that was lucky. Round 2 went exactly like I expected the whole thing to go. We have good speed in our Kroger Flavor Fill Up Camaro ZL1. I’m happy with that. We should have been a little bit better based on practice, but I love this race track. And, it’s a fun race. It’s just been a lot of fun to race everywhere this year. I’m glad the qualifying portion is over and we can get into the race and have some fun.”  

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 15th:

DESCRIBE YOUR RUN HERE

“I was the lead car for that big draft there. We ended up 15th. After last week you don’t want to mess up and not get a lap again. So, just trying to be as patient as you can be but still not be the lead car. But we wanted to leave ourselves some time. So we were just the lead car and were hoping that other people wouldn’t make it to the line in time.”  

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 16th O

ON HIS RUN “I’m pretty happy with 16th place for our GEICO Camaro. That’s a massive improvement over last year’s results. And we’ve been really succeeding in this style of qualifying. It’s different, for sure, but we also we’re all out there trying to do the same thing and be the fastest car. So, I’m proud of our effort and proud of what we’re doing as a team and we’re definitely embracing this style of qualifying.”  

DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 LIBERTY NATIONAL CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 17th It was definitely hectic. The whole format it nuts. Our Liberty National Camaro ZL1 was good. We just kind of find ourselves on the back end of a draft that put us side-by-side racing cars and that’s not ideal when you’re trying to run a fast lap. We’ll roll off in 17th and it’s good to see a Bowtie on the front row there with (Richard Childress Racing teammate) Austin Dillon getting the pole and it’s really cool for RCR. Those guys are putting in a lot of effort and Chevrolet and ECR and all our partners are doing a lot of good things to give us speed and it’s good to pay off. We thought we should have had two or three poles by now so it’s good for one of us at RCR to finally get one.)     

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS

2nd - Kevin Harvick

3rd - Aric Almirola

5th - Joey Logano

7th - Ryan Newman

9th - Clint Bowyer

10th - Ryan Blaney

12th - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13th - Brad Keselowski

19th - David Ragan

20th - Daniel Suarez

25th - Paul Menard

29th - Michael McDowell

32nd - Matt Tifft

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Haas Automation Ford Mustang -- Qualified 9th

“You know, I have seen it in other sports but never seen it in ours. We just got booed and it is disappointing. It is disappointing for everybody involved. I don't know. I saw this coming three weeks ago. I think we all did. Unfortunately we are going to have to be reactive to it instead of proactive. It is just a learning process. The whole package is. Everybody knows that going in and everybody has been patience but I am a little out of patience with Friday’s. There is so much hard work and dedication on so many teams behalves to go out there and have the fastest car known to mankind that you are literally capable of building in the walls of your organization and it just doesn't matter. That is not racing. I feel like we are capable as an industry of putting on a better show than that. I know they will make the right provisions to make that correction but unfortunately it is going to take something like that to make that adjustment.”

RYAN NEWMAN, No. 6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford Mustang - Qualified 7th

“I don't think that was a very successful use of TV time for our sponsors. I told you all back in Vegas that I am still a big fan of single-car qualifying. That is all I need to say, really. That is the way qualifying should be. The gamesmanship that goes on, the lack of 100%, it is not what qualifying is all about. That is the program that NASCAR set forth and the rules they laid down and the box they put us in. Shame on us for not getting a lap in.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 PPG Ford Mustang -- Qualified 10th

“It is just the way it is. It is such a big place and you don't want to be the first person to go because you are going to qualify last in the round. We got close to the time we needed to go and we just didn’t make it. We had the truck deal three or four years ago and they went away from it and now we are back to doing it and running into the same problems. That is just how it is.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Farmer John Ford Mustang - Qualified 3rd

“That is the product of the environment we are in. We are all very dependant of posting a good lap based on the draft that you get. You are in that box and it is really stressful trying to figure out when to leave pit road and what position to put yourself in and you can’t be the lead car. The lead car is at such a disadvantage. You just play all the games and if you are going to be the lead car you try to drag it out until you are the only car that makes the line. If you misjudge a little bit you get what we just saw.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 AAA Southern California Ford Mustang - Qualified 5th

“We blew it, but at least we all did. The answer is to go sooner but nobody wants to be the first one out there. I don't know really what to say. We have something to talk about now I guess. I don't know what to tell you. That is the game. It is just part of it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Wurth Ford Mustang - Qualified 13th

“I don't’ know. The race is going to be so much different than qualifying, so I don't think there is a whole lot you can really take away from today. This was pretty much the same at Vegas. Kind of in between Vegas and Atlanta.”

YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE ON THE BUBBLE, THEN OFF THE BUBBLE, JUST EVERYTHING HAPPENING LAST MINUTE? “No, probably just latency in whatever scoring system they have. It kept crashing on us.”

DID YOU HAVE TROUBLE IN THE FIRST ROUND WITH WHAT HAPPENED WITH CHASE ELLIOTT? “No, we were just fine. We got through that with no issue.”

WITH THIS QUALIFYING, WAS IT MORE LUCK OF THE POSITIONING WHERE YOU ARE IN THE GROUP OR WHO HAS THE FAST CAR? “I feel it doesn't matter what I think. It matters what NASCAR and the fans think.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang - Qualified 20th

HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO GET OUT WITH GUYS BLOCKING YOU ON PIT ROAD? “The rule for me is very clear. You have to go. Either left or right, You have to leave the middle line open just in case somebody wants to go. I couldn’t go anywhere. I had an opening with the 37 that was in front of my but I really couldn’t go to the right because of the wall and to the left there were cars in the middle. I was surprised that NASCAR didn’t make them go.”

WHAT DOES THAT FEEL LIKE? “It all depends. If you qualify well, it is fun. If you don't qualify well, it is a little frustrating at times. It was a little frustrating for me because things didn’t work out the way that we were planning.”


IS THERE A SOLUTION OF WAY TO AVOID WHAT JUST HAPPENED? “I don't really know. It is hard to say. We definitely have to figure something out. It is hard to say because if you go first you won’t be the fastest guy but if you are the last one, you maybe won’t make it. Everyone is in a tough spot playing games like that until we get to the point like today that nobody even made it in the last round. That is ridiculous I think.”

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2019, Issue 3, Posted 12:27 AM, 03.16.2019