Friday
Jimmie Johnson and Juan Pablo Montoya Make it an All Chevy Front Row at Dover
Press Release
Starting alongside Johnson will be Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Polaroid Impala SS making in an all Chevy front row for the second race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Ryan Newman, No. 39 US Army Impala SS, made it a Team Chevy sweep of the top-three qualifiers for the 43-car field.
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Impala SS, and Clint Bowyer, No. 33 BB&T Impala SS, qualified seventh and eighth respectively to give Bowtie drivers five of the top-10 starting positions.
Greg Biffle (Ford) and David Reutimann (Toyota) complete the fop-five qualifiers.
A total of 15 Team Chevy drivers will take the green flag for Sunday’s 400-lap/400-mile race. ABC TV, MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide live coverage of the race schedule to start at 2:00 p.m. EDT.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S IMPALA SS – Qualified 1st:
“Qualifying was really good. The car has been super fast off the truck. An exciting lap for sure. I think the track changed more than we anticipated it to and I really had to hang on to it the entire way around it during the lap. It’s nice when it’s that out of control and you can still produce a lap like that. Feel fast, look fast and produce results today. Very proud of this Lowe’s Impala team. We are trying to raise some awareness for there flood victims from Atlanta so on the deck lid of our car, we have the sticker for the racing relief fund. So if you would like to learn more about it, go to your Lowe’s store or look online.”
WHAT IS BIGGEST ADVANTAGE TO SITTING ON THE POLE AT DOVER?
“Without a doubt, that first pit stall. There is so much to be gained here on pit road and the fact that you only have to go a few short feet to cross the camera line makes all the difference in the world. I am so proud of this team. They worked hard to bring me a car that was fast. We have done nothing but make small adjustments on it and we got faster and faster every run.”
HOW MUCH DID DOING THE TIRE TEST HERE HELP YOU?
“It definitely did help, there is no way around that. We didn’t make qualifying runs and you spend a lot of time on the control tire and doing a variety of different things that Goodyear wanted us to do. We didn’t know what we would have for today. I feel the advantages of the test will show up more tomorrow than what it did today. So, with all that in mind, I am really excited and think the Lowe’s Impala will be a threat for the win.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 POLAROID IMPALA SS – Qualified 2nd:
“We just went out and ran what we could run. We ran a .95 in practice and ran a .97 for qualifying. I thought it was a better lap than practice but still a great lap for this Polaroid Chevy team.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 US ARMY IMPALA SS – Qualified 3rd:
HOW ARE THE TIRES?
“I was just surprised at my pressure builds. Pressure builds is how we kind of judge how tight or loose the race car was and it caught me a little off guard. But Goodyear did a good job with this tire here at least up to this point we know. And it’s laying some rubber on the race track. We see that. That definitely helps with tire wear, which helps for tire safety in the long run. This place is one of the toughest, if not the toughest on tires. I think we’ve got something we can for sure be safe with and more importantly, in some cases, put on a good race.”
WHY ARE GUYS TAKING TWO LAPS IN QUALIFYING HERE? IN JUNE THEY TOOK ONE LAP
“Well sometimes you just never know with a new tire. You don’t want to sell yourself short. We did two laps once in practice and realized that the one lap was going to be better for us. It all depends on your race car, your pressures, your driver, and what you can do for a lap.
“I think Juan (Pablo Montoya) laid down a heck of a lap to go out when he did.”
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 BB&T IMPALA SS – Qualified 8th:
“Real proud of the guys on the BB&T team. We broke a motor on the first lap of practice, so these were the first laps we’ve had all day. We’ll have to start at the back of the field, but hopefully that’ll give us some help with pit selection for Sunday.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BURGER KING IMPALA SS – Qualified 22nd:
“If you look out there, the concrete squares are about 10-foot patches, 10-foot square so there is a lot of seams out there. The one thing we have been fighting today is getting our car to land on the track. You drop way down the hill to go in to the corner and when you get to the bottom to get the car to land so we have been fighting with our Burger King Chevy a little today.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS – Qualified 24th:
“This is the 13th qualifying run we made today and we ran .30s every time. We have tried everything to get the car faster. We tried a couple of things that Jimmie was doing because he is really quick, just never did pick up any speed. It is disappointing but the race setup is totally different so I am not really expecting this to roll over in to tomorrow and hopefully we will get things rolling on this National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet when practice starts tomorrow.”
About General Motors: General Motors Company, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 235,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, 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. General Motors Company acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors Company can be found at www.gm.com.
- GM Racing Communications, Press Release
Article Tags: AAA 400, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Dale Jr., Dover International Speedway, Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, NASCAR, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NSCS, Ryan Newman, Team Chevy, The Monster Mile, Tony Stewart
