comments made by a few drivers regarding the new group qualifying being used for the first time at Talladega on Saturday, May 3rd (FOX at 1:00pm/et):
#20-Matt Kenseth: ‘I guess the truth is none of us really know. Obviously the bigger the group is and the farther you are back from it to a certain point the bigger run you’re going to go and the fastest lap time you are going to get. That’s not a secret and everybody knows that so everybody is waiting for that group. There’s never going to be a group, so I think it’s going to be kind of funny to watch. I don’t know how it’s going to work. We did the first round at Daytona in Nationwide and it was a little crazy, but the field is obviously better in Cup. I don’t know what’s going to happen. It should be interesting especially having three rounds. I think obviously the first round is where you’re going to have your fast lap times and that one you’re going to have to probably make more calculations or more aggressive moves or however you want to put it to get that lap once they start thinning this field out and you get down to 12 or even 25 or 24 or whatever it’s going to change a little bit. There’s always a potential for a wreck when you put 43 cars out there. I think everybody is going to try to do a strategy to get the fastest lap they can to start as far as they can toward the front. What that’s going to look like I honestly just don’t really know. It depends what everybody does and there’s no way to predict what everybody is going to do. The people in the big pack aren’t going to be the ones running the fast lap, it’s going to be the people behind the big pack. Everybody knows that so there might not be a big pack. I’m not really sure exactly how it’s going to go down.’
#22-Joey Logano: ‘I don’t think anyone knows for sure what’s gonna happen. I will say that we have a little game plan to work and try to make sure our cars not only stay safe but are able to go out there and post a good lap and just try to get through all of the segments. Our car is still the only car to get through every segment this year so far. That’s something to be proud of. This is the one real wild card because there’s a good chance the fastest car may not get the pole this week. That’s gonna be something very different. There’s a lot of strategy that’s gonna go into this. We’re gonna watch Nationwide qualifying and see what they do there, and then also I think if you look at the practice we had here last year when we knew qualifying was gonna get rained out and everyone kind of did it, it took five laps for everyone to get going because no one wanted to be the lead guy. I think guys are just gonna go and go out there. I think there will be a point that there are gonna be a lot of cars out there. I think you have to put your lap up very quick because I think after the first five minutes the top 18 cars or so are probably gonna pit, and not be out there. So the less cars that are on the race track, the harder it is to run that fast lap. I’ve been working with my teammate Brad, and also McDowell some I think and kind of figure out what we’ve got to do to put together a good package for us to run a fast lap and have the right strategy, and also stay out of the crash because I think it’s gonna happen. I think there will be a wreck within this qualifying session just because the closing rate you’re gonna be catching some of these guys. For guys in the middle of the race track and then you’re going to the bottom, he decided he wants to get out of the way and goes to the bottom, oh, shoot, you’re gonna get in a crash. So you’ve got to be on your toes throughout the whole session. I think as each session goes it’s gonna get a little bit calmer because obviously there are gonna be less cars out there.’
#34-David Ragan: ‘There’s no question that we’re gonna run together. The bigger the pack and the more cars you have, the faster you go, but everyone has to sit down and think about what they want to achieve from qualifying. Do you want to sit on the pole? If you want to set fast time or qualify in the top three or four you’re gonna have to be aggressive and make some risky moves. If you want to be conservative and just make the race, you can be a little conservative and maybe ride behind the pack or have a clean lap and come in and just park it. You just need to determine what you want to get out of qualifying, but there’s no doubt there will be a fairly large pack, I would assume the first part of that qualifying and there’s no secret – the bigger the pack, the more cars that are in line, the faster you’re going to go. You’ll have some guys that realize they’ll have a chance for the pole that maybe wouldn’t have a chance for the pole and they’ll take some chances, but I think in our case we just want to play it cool. Obviously get into the race. It would be great to qualify in the top 15 or 20 where we could get a little better pit stall selection, but I didn’t really come down here to just set my focus on sitting on the pole. We came down to try to do everything we can to win the race. It doesn’t really matter where you qualify.’
#48-Jimmie Johnson: ‘I don’t know what is going to exactly happen. But to win the pole, you’re going to have to go out there and race. And the run that you can get on a group that it a football-field-or-two ahead of you, is so dramatic that I even think that a 10 or 12-car line won’t be as fast as somebody who falls way back in the pack and has a chance over a lap or two to pull up into the pack. So that’s what every driver is going to try to do. And setting that up is going to be tough because one, everybody is going to be trying it; and two, if you see someone behind you coming, why are you going to stay on the gas to help them? So, bailing out of the gas, breaking up the pack, and things like that are all possible. So, I don’t know. It’s going to be exciting for sure. We’ll all clearly be working on it during practice. And then qualifying itself will be very exciting. The thing I’m trying to come to grips with is where do I take a large risk? Trying to qualify well or trying to work my way through the pack to get to the front? And we’re just not sure right now what to expect. We wanted to come here with a plan in place of how we were going to qualify, but our opinion seems to change every 15 minutes. And we’re going to wait until after P2 and decide what we’re going to do.’
#78-Martin Truex Jr.: ‘We would like to be in the same position as we were today. At the start of practice we got in front of a line of cars and were able to make a run up there. The difference tomorrow is that we don’t know what everyone else’s plan is going to be. Everyone will be trying to do what we did in practice today and that’s to be in the right position to get the fastest speed. And at the same time it’s going to be a risky session. Our No. 1 goal right now is to make sure this Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet races on Sunday. If we feel like we’re in a danger zone we’ll abort. It really doesn’t matter where you start here.’
#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.: ‘Nobody knows. I just don’t know. We will just have to see. The guy that gets the pole is going to have to hit it just right. We built a brand new race car so our willingness to take risks is going to be pretty limited throughout that process. We just you know need to get into the field with the car it doesn’t matter where you start other than just picking on pit road. Not sure exactly what our approach is yet. We’ve still got some conversations to have between Steve (Letarte) and our teammates and just sort of feel out everybody’s opinion about what they want to do and how they want to try to accomplish the best result they can. I don’t think right now anybody has any answers.’(PR’s)
