Catchfence

Team Chevy - GM Racing

EVERY POINT MATTERS. HOW BIG OF A SHOT IN THE ARM IS IT FOR YOU TO BE ON THE POLE “It’s a big shot in the arm. It’s huge. All these guys on this team mean so much to me and they dig so hard. They give me such great race cars and we’re just trying to let our performance do our work for us. We can’t so a whole lot about the racing gods, but if we put our performance out there on the race track, we hope that takes care of us.”

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 HAMBURGER HELPER IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 6TH: GOOD LAP OUT THERE: “Yes, it was. That is what we have to do. That was a really good qualifying run for us. I am happy to run up. We took a couple of stabs at it In practice and got a little bit off. We just regrouped and re-set and went back to what we started with and it was good.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 21ST: “We knew the early draw was going to be a problem and the Nationwide cars run a different tire. So being that early just hurt us. It was a lot different than what we expected and I expect the track is going to get better and faster. Just one of those bad luck things, very frustrating. I think we have a pretty good race car. I think we will definitely be a factor, we just won’t have the best starting spot.”

DALE EARHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP SUGAR FREE/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 27TH: “It was really really loose there. I don’t know. I couldn’t get In the corner, it was really loose in and it would just push off. We will see how it goes. The Sugar Fee AMP Chevrolet was good in race trim. We couldn’t get anything going in qualifying trim. We will just have to be good on pit road and be smart on the race track, but I think we have a pretty good race car.”

“We were better than we were in practice but that isn’t very good so we will have a lot of work to do tomorrow night.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENT ON THE REPORTS THAT BRAD KESELOWSKI HAS SIGNED TO DRIVE FOR PENSKE: “I ain’t got nothing to really say about it. We will just have to see what happens.

“I can’t say whether it is true or not. I haven’t heard anything for sure. I don’t know any more than any of you guys do. I am happy for Brad. He has done a good job for us. We have a lot more racing left this year and some races to win in the JR Motorsports car. We will see what happens next year, whatever it is, it will be good for him. (LAUGHS)”

YOU SAID LAST WEEK THAT IF HE WENT TO DRIVE A DODGE, YOU GUYS COULDN’T WORK SOMETHING OUT, DOES THAT STILL HOLD TRUE? “I don’t think that would be any different for anyone else In the garage for anybody to cross-promote and drive one make and then drive another. It is just common sense.”

HOW DISAPPOINTING WOULD IT BE FOR YOU IF HE WERE TO LEAVE? “Well, they all have their own approach. When I first got Brad, this was for him to have an opportunity to go to a Cup team was our ultimate victory. When that happens, which with as well as he is doing, it surely will one day, I will be as proud as I have ever been as I was when he won races for us. He did a great job for us and we have the rest of this year and we want to win some more races and we will see what happens next year. No matter was he does in the future, he’s done an awesome job for us and we’ve had a great time so far.”

WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE HIM AS A TEAMMATE OR AN ADVERSARY ON THE RACE TRACK? “Either way, we will be good friends. We started, we worked together at JR Motorsports and so far it has been a great experience for both of us. Speaking from when we started working together until now, he has become one of the most sought after drivers and our company has become one of the best In the Nationwide Series. I couldn’t be happier working with him.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYTA, NO. 42 TARGET IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 11TH: “We ran a 70-something In practice and a 50-something right now. The track is fast. Everybody will pick up. It is a little hairy to drive. It is ok. We really tried earlier and I wasn’t so happy with the car, but we made a lot of changes. Everyone on the Target Chevy did an amazing job.”

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- GM Racing Communications, Press Release