Catchfence

Jeff Gordon - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Ft. Worth, TX – Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/National Guard GED Plus Impala SS, will start on the outside of the front row in Sunday’s Samsung 500 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS).
 
Gordon, who sits atop the NSCS standings heading in to the TMS event, turned a lap of 28.392 seconds, 190.194 m.p.h. to capture the second spot in the 43-car starting field of the sixth race of the 2009 season.
 
Tony Stewart will start his No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Impala SS seventh in the field and Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Kobalt Tools- Tough Tools for Cool Schools Impala SS, will roll off ninth to give Team Chevy three of the top-10 starters.

A total of 17 Impala SS drivers will take the green flag Sunday.  The 334-lap/501-mile Samsung 500 has a scheduled starting time of 1:00 p.m. with live coverage on FOX TV, PRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT / NATIONAL GUARD GED PLUS IMPALA SS – Qualified 2^nd:
ON THE RACE CAR
“It’s certainly been good all day. I was pretty pleased with the lap. With the wind gusts and the way it was, I was a played it a little big conservative to get back to the throttle in (Turns) 3 and 4. We’d been fighting a little bit of a push and it felt like the wind was contributing to it. So, we flew through (Turns) 1 and 2 and still put a really solid lap down. David (Reutimann, pole winner) really put a great (Turns) 3 and 4 together. I thought I put down a pretty good lap. But Matt (Kenseth) and I were talking about it. Even though I did, going early like that, you think a lot of guys are going to beat you. So I am pretty pleased to be on the outside front row. It was another good qualifying effort here at Texas for us. Hopefully we can back that up on Sunday.”

THE HENDRICK BRAIN TRUST GOT TOGETHER WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON BEFORE BRISTOL BECAUSE BRISTOL HAD ALWAYS BEEN A THORN IN HIS SIDE. DID YOU DO A SIMILAR STRATEGY BEFORE COMING TO TEXAS?
“No, we approached it just like we always have (by) just looking at all the data from the other teams and what they’ve run here, and what we’ve ran in the past, and getting on the seven-post, throwing some things in simulation, and looking at what’s been working well for us so far this year.  We were in qualifying trim all day today. And we were pretty good here the last time, obviously, sitting on the pole. We were similar to that today. I think what’s going to be different is what we put in for the qualifying set-up tomorrow, which will be a lot more like what we’ve been running on the 1.5-miles.

“We’ve been running really strong on the 1.5-miles this year and even though this is a unique 1.5-mile, I think, it’s one of the more challenging ones, we won’t know until we get out there tomorrow. So, yes I guess in a way the brain trust. We’re just trying to tap into all of our resources that we have to learn what we can and utilize my driving style in the set-ups and what we learn. We’ve just learned you can’t throw another guy’s set-up in there. It just doesn’t work.”

David Gilliland, No. 71 Capital Window/TRG Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS – Qualified 30^th
“You would think that I would get used to this feeling of having to qualify our way in, but I just can’t. It is just something that is indescribable.  I am really proud of all of the TRG Motorsports guys.  They have worked hard the past couple of weeks and we deserve to be racing on Sunday.
 
“The car was definitely better in qualifying than in practice.  Slugger and the guys just keep making it faster every time we go out on the track.  We don’t have teammates to go lean on for information.  We are doing it the tough way, good old fashion hard racing.  This team is doing the job.  Making the races keeps us on the track, on TV and in the headlines to get that attention from potential sponsors, which is what we need right now.”

 “You have to have a car that turns good coming off of the corners.  It tends to get tight exiting the turns and that really affects your speed down the straights.  You got to turn.  We have gotten better and better each practice and will work on it some more in the last practice tomorrow.”

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), one of the world’s largest automakers, was founded in 1908, and today manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries.  With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 244,500 people in every major region of the world, and sells and services vehicles in some 140 countries.  In 2008, GM sold 8.35 million cars and trucks globally under the following brands:  Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling.  GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany.  GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services.  More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications, Press Release