NASCAR Cup

Johnson and Chevy drivers discuss Darlington qualifying

Team Chevy Racing

Edited: May 12, 2012, 2:52 AM

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Jimmie Johnson, Hendricks Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 2ND TELL US ABOUT THAT FIRST LAP THAT WAS SO IMPRESSIVE: “It was just a great lap. We have been working hard on the car all day. It had a lot of comfort and speed in it. There are still some great cars to go yet, so we will have to see where we end up. I’m proud of that lap. I felt like there was a little bit left in turns three and four that I didn’t get down there. I hope no one else can find it either (laughs).”

IS IT HARD TO SHUT THE CAR DOWN AFTER ONE LAP KNOWING THAT YOU POSSIBLY COULD HAVE GOTTEN MORE? “It’s so tough at times to know what is a good lap and what isn’t. Sometimes the eventful lap is where you got all you could and they tell you how slow you were. You are like ‘man really? I really worked hard for that one.’ Then other laps are really smooth and they end up being fast. This was real smooth and it was pretty quick. I’m glad it worked out. Based on feel I thought it would have been slower than that. It was awfully good.”

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 ROCKWELL TOOLS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 3RD HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “It was just a little bit slippery, sliding around a little bit. It was a lot better than where we were in practice. I think the guys did a nice job preparing a little better. We will have to see what happens in the race now. I think we definitely made some gains though.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 WIX FILTERS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 4TH HOW WAS YOUR LAP? WAS IT WHAT YOU EXPECTED? “Well it is so hard to gauge the grip of the race track there. It was a good run for our WIX Filters Chevrolet. We were eighth in practice so hopefully we can beat a couple of those other guys that were quick early in practice when the track was a little bit better. We just need to work on our race trim a little bit more. I really love Darlington.”

REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/CSX PLAY IT SAFE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 9TH HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “The lap wasn’t bad. I didn’t do a very good job of hitting my marks in turns one and two. The car wasn’t too bad. I think it is good in race trim, the Furniture Row/CSX Play it Safe Chevy, and we will look forward to hopefully having a good night tomorrow night.”

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 BB&T CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 10TH HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “It was good. We would have liked to have been a little quicker than that. But, that was a solid lap. We struggled in practice in qualifying trim we definitely made some improvements there. That will be okay.”

HOW MUCH WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO GO BACK TO VICTORY LANE THIS WEEKEND? “This is my favorite race track. To me this is what racing is all about. It’s just what racing ought to be.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/ALLSTATE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 11TH HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “The track has a lot more grip than what we had in practice. You kind of know that, you drive really hard but you just don’t know how hard you can push the car. I didn’t drive hard enough in turns one and two. Then I missed my mark in turns three and four. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t horrible, it was just kind of average.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER/AARP CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 12TH HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “We were just too loose. You know it is a guessing game with a schedule like this when you practice during the day and the track cools down and picks up that much speed. It was still a pretty decent lap. To go faster we just needed to be tighter.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 DIET MOUNTAIN DEW/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 24TH HOW WAS YOUR LAP OUT THERE? “Not good, we weren’t really good all day in qualifying trim. We just don’t have any good speed. The car is way too loose. It was about as good as we could go without wrecking.”

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 38TH FOR HER FIRST NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT DARLINGTON RACEWAY HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “It’s the best lap I’ve turned all day in the Cup car, so that’s a positive. We were three-quarters of a second quicker, so for me that’s good. I don’t necessarily find a lot in qualifying from practice. I’m a pretty methodical driver, so that was good. And it shows that the Go Daddy crew did a good job of giving me a good car. It shows me what these Cup guys can do when it comes time to put it on the board. I know the starting spot won’t be great, but it was a step forward for me and those are the things I’m looking for along the way.”

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