Power makes it two in a row on pole in Texas

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “We had a bit of an imbalance. We weren’t really in the race track, as we like to call it, but the car was on top of the race track – moving around a lot when you get in the corner and just scrubbing too much speed because of it. We need to go back and work on our mechanical grip setup so we can have a bit more grip out there tonight (for practice). The DHL crew had a great run here last year, and I think we should have a good night tomorrow night. It’s going to be difficult with the downforce and the current compound we’re running.”

MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Honda): “This is my first time here at Texas Motor Speedway, so considering that I’m really happy with this qualifying run. We know we have a good car for tomorrow, and I can’t wait to see how we do in practice later tonight. The race is where our real focus is, and we’ll know more about how our car handles traffic this evening. I’m really enjoying learning the nuances of oval racing. There’s so much banking here that comes up on you very fast. You need to know how to handle that while negotiating all of the other cars racing around you.”

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): “I’m glad Josef’s car is nice and balanced and he’s having fun out there because I’m definitely sliding around and it’s a bit of handful. So I’m really pleased with where we got the speed in qualifying. I think we could have gone a little bit more, but we were fairly trimmed out so the car was sliding around. It was a handful. I’ve come to expect that around this place. You get a little loose here and you put it in the middle you get to loose off. I think the race is going to be the same. You’ve got to manage the Firestones. We just abuse them around here. We’re sliding everywhere. I think we just got to try and work that and try and look after them. I’m expecting it to be quite an interesting race. With more downforce, I think it’s going it’s going to be slightly more compact than last year. The Boy Scouts of America car is going to be quick and we’ve got something to go out there and challenge them. We’ll see what happens. You just never know. The temperature makes such a difference. Today it got warm for qualifying. I was a little at how much downforce we pulled off and how hot it got so I knew it was going to be tough out there in qualifying.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “I had a bit of an understeer with the Verizon Chevy, but I’m pretty happy with that lap. Tonight’s practice session is going to be very important because the track will be the closest we’ll get to race conditions. We tested here a couple of months ago and I think we learned a lot. The weather is nowhere close to the same as it was then, but hopefully we can still apply some of the things we learned.”

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 8 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “We had a really good first practice this morning and I was able to run in first for most of the session and then ended up in third behind my teammates in the end. I think we were just off on the gears for qualifying and I wasn’t able to put together the lap times we were hoping for. In qualifying it’s the fine details that can really make you lose quite a bit of speed and that was definitely the case for us today. We’ll be able to go back and get the problem fixed and be ready to put in a good race tomorrow night.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Novo Nordisk Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “Qualifying didn’t go quite as planned today, but the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet is looking good for the race. The Novo Nordisk guys did a great job getting the car ready and I think I have a really good car underneath me. We just missed it a little bit and around here when you miss it a little bit, you see big differences. Overall the Chevy has been really fun to drive around here and it’s great to be a part of Team Chevy this season.”

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Chevrolet): “The Target car was obviously really good this morning and we were happy the way we unloaded. This afternoon in qualifying we ran a good first lap which had us second overall, but our second lap was a lot slower, which we knew would be the case. I think we should be strong over long runs and good for the race tomorrow night.”

TONY KANAAN (No. 10 Suave For Men Chevrolet): “We have had a good car so far today here in Texas and we were strong this morning leading practice in the Suave For Men No. 10 car. I just missed it a little on our second lap in qualifying. I think it was something when I shifted at the wrong time and that slowed us up a little on that second lap. Either way it’s still a good race car and I’m looking forward to practice tonight.”

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