Catchfence

Fontana, CA - Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Impala SS, leads a contingent of 15 Team Chevy drivers with a fourth place qualifying effort for the Pepsi 500 Sunday at Auto Club Speedway.

Juan Pablo Montoya will start his No. 42 Target Impala SS from fifth on the grid despite brushing the wall during his qualifying attempt.

Martin Truex, Jr., No. 1 Guitar Hero 5 Impala SS, qualified sixth. Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Impala SS, will roll off from the eighth starting position. Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Prilosec OTC – Walmart Impala SS, grabbed the ninth starting spot.

Mark Martin, No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Impala SS, will start 10th to give Team Chevy six of the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday’s race.

Other Team Chevy Chase contenders qualified as follows: Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont/Pepsi Impala SS – 11th; Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Impala SS – 21st; and Ryan Newman, No. 39 Haas Automation/US Army Impala SS – 37th.

The Pepsi 500 is scheduled to take the green flag at 12:15 p.m. PDT (3:15 p.m. EDT) on Sunday with live coverage by ABC TV, MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 4TH: “Not bad. It equaled what we had in practice, about the same speed and we didn’t change a lot. The car was consistent and backed up what we did earlier. Obviously, we would have liked to have a little bit more speed. Hamlin put down one heck of a lap. Fourth isn’t bad and we’ll take it from there. We are looking forward to Sunday with Jimmie Johnson Foundation on the side of the car. Can’t thank Lowe’s enough for all their great support and allowing me to do this.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 5TH :“I was just too loose on the power out of four. It was like loose loose, loose! I gave it a little more thinking it could take it and it just got too far out. Hey, it is one lap. I just ran out of talent I guess (LAUGHS).”

HOW MUCH DID THE TRACK CHANGE FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING? “Not much. Maybe a little looser but not much.”

MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 1 GUITAR HERO 5 IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 6TH:“It was a decent lap. A good pickup from practice for us. That was what we were trying to do. We were real tight in practice. We were only a little tight there. We have a little more to do for tomorrow. Good lap and good pickup. It is a real fine line here, especially in turn one when you have to hit your marks. Real real easy to get in there too deep and overdrive the corner. Pretty much overdrove every lap here today except for that one which was a good thing. We just need to work on the car a little bit more. If I hadn’t over drove every lap in practice, we may have been able to get a little bit better out there.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED 8TH: “The Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet has been good since we unloaded. The last couple of weeks we have had a little trouble qualifying so our goal was to get somewhere in the top-15. The guys have done a great job, brought a brand new car and it has been good right off the truck. Everyone has done a good job and the car was good in practice. Just got to be consistent and get the car so it drives good every lap because the handling will go away at some point. Good lap for us, just a little too conservative on my part.”

CLINT BOWYER, NO. PRILOSEC OTC-WALMART IMPALA SS – QUALIFIED 9TH
“That should give us a pretty good starting spot. The Prilosec Chevrolet has been pretty good since we unloaded. I got in the wall a little bit in the first practice session, but fortunately it didn’t damage the car too bad. We should be able to fine tune the car tomorrow, and hopefully put on a good show Sunday.”

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