Qualifying report

NASCAR Cup

Gordon leads five Chevrolets in Loudon qualifying

Edited: Sep 22, 2012, 3:32 PM

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Pole winner Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Getty Images

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER "This car has been awesome in qualifying trim all day long. I just give a lot of credit to this Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet team. Don’t forget to text Hunger to 50555 to continue to help this great cause. What an awesome effort, great lap. It felt good. The car got off the corner really strong and I thought that it would be really close and as tight as these times are you just never know. Kyle (Busch) laid down a heck of a lap so did Tony (Stewart) there to shoot for and man I’m so proud. That felt great. To go out and get a pole on a non-restrictor track, we haven’t done that in a little while so this feels really good.”

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 3RD "It seemed like it got better grip the second lap. Just took a little longer for the tires to come in."

HOW IMPORTANT IS STARTING SPOT AND PIT SELECTION AT NEW HAMPSHIRE? "It's big. It is a lot shorter race, which I like the length of the race, but, if you get hemmed-up in the back, it can be a long day. It is a good starting spot for this Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevy."

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 6TH:

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EFFORT "It felt really good. My car felt perfect. I just didn’t really go that fast. I was surprised when I was coming off the corner that I knew I was going too slow and so I just picked the throttle up too late. But the Farmers Insurance Chevrolet felt really good. I just wish I could do the laps over.”

DID YOU MAKE A LOT OF QUALIFYING RUNS DURING PRACTICE? "We did two right toward the end. It felt a little bit worse than we did here. I felt better here for sure and we picked up a little bit. I was expecting to pick up a couple tenths and I just didn’t do that. So, I’ve got to work on that but I feel like we have a really good car. It felt great today. We’ll work on it some more tomorrow and hopefully we’ll prepare it really well for Sunday.”

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 SYLVANIA/MENARDS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 7TH:

ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT, ON TAGGING THE WALL: "Yes, on the second lap coming to the checker off (turn) four. The first lap on tires that even through practice, and again right there, there is no grip. Then, the second lap really came in good. Got into the gas, and just got a little bit loose off four. But, stayed in it. The guys did a good job. We haven't done any race trim yet, so hopefully we get a good starting spot, and worry about racing tomorrow."

WITH SHANE WILSON FILLING IN AS YOUR CREW CHIEF, HAS IT BEEN TOUGH GETTING THE COMMUNICATION GOING? "It's not that bad. Shane has been with RCR a long time, and I'm in my second year with RCR, so we've crossed paths a lot. So, the communication is pretty good."

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 ASPEN DENTAL CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 8TH:

ON HOW MUCH YOU LEARN ON FRIDAY FOR SUNDAY AND QUALIFYING: "Everything. If you are paying attention, you learn everything. If you're not paying attention, you don't learn anything. Our Aspen Dental Chevrolet was good. We didn't get the entire lap that we wanted, but we feel like we've always got something to work with when we come here. Fun race track. A lot of great fans. We'll see if we can keep it going."

YOU HAVE A LOT OF CONSISTENCY LATELY, DO YOU FEEL LIKE THINGS ARE FALLING INTO PLACE? "We're doing okay. We didn't have a fifth place car at Chicago. We used good strategy and had good fortune. We've been running good the last six-seven weeks, just need to run better if we're going to win."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/DIET MOUNTAIN DEW/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 14TH:

ON HIS LAP "It wasn’t anything special. We weren’t that good in practice. We just kind of struggled all day trying to find speed in the car. It would be hard to beat anybody from here on out, so it’s not going to be the best starting spot. We’ll just have to race hard.”

Source: Team Chevy Racing

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