DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Thursday was a reprieve day for our Furniture Row Racing team. Finishing second in the Daytona 500 qualifying race was a mammoth lift after our disappointing performance last weekend.
I was really bummed with the lack of speed in our No. 78 Chevrolet during Sunday’s Pole Day. If somebody told me then that we would finish runner-up in Thursday’s qualifying race and start sixth in the Daytona 500, I would have looked at them as if they had a third eye and called them a liar.
You have to remember that we ranked 38th in speed Sunday, and here we are today with a 180-degree different outlook. Our guys worked hard, constantly trying to find every little thing they could to get our car up to speed. I can’t tell you how comforting it is to know that I have a car that is capable of running up front and capable of having a good day.
We knew going into Thursday’s qualifying race that it was going to be a balancing act. We didn’t want to be overaggressive and wreck our primary car, but we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could run with the leaders and get a good starting position and pit stall for the 500. It was mission accomplished on all fronts.
Entering the last lap, I felt I had a shot at overtaking Matt Kenseth for the win, but I didn’t feel I made the right move at the end. Clint (Bowyer) gave me more of a shove than I thought I was going to get. I wasn’t anticipating that and got a little squirrelly on the backstretch and lost the run.
I don’t have any complaints about finishing second. And even better news is that we don’t have a torn-up race car, and I learned a lot about what we have to do Sunday. If we can get down to five laps to go and be in position to sniff the lead, then we’ll see what happens.
We have two more days to get dialed in. We were in this position last year — also finishing second in the qualifying race. We just want to make sure that we have every nut and bolt in place and not do anything stupid to beat ourselves.
I feel strongly that we’re on the right path as NASCAR’s biggest race approaches.
