JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 43RD

WHAT WAS THE PLAN GOING INTO THAT QUALIFYING ATTEMPT?

“The plan was shot before the plan started. I messed up ultimately. I just mistimed getting to the line. The whole group was going so slow I knew I had to have a gap and when I came across the line I thought I had enough to be able to complete that lap and get one more, which was the only way we were going to be able to make it. But we came up short. It’s a mess out there. It’s not easy.”

IS SOME OF THAT JUST THE CONFUSION OF BEING A NEW FORMAT?

“Well what it is you don’t want to be the first car off pit road. If you are the first car off pit road more than likely you are not going to make it very far. It is all wanting to be at the back. We had a plan to work with some guys. I feel bad because I talked Kyle Larson into going with me and I messed him up. It was one of those things that I was just trying to time it and the way they were counting it down I thought we had enough time to get to the line. I just misjudged it. It’s something we will learn from each time and get better at. Timing is everything, not just in the lap time you make, but how you gap yourself and when you go. The pack ran so much slower than I anticipated that whole time that we were just caught too far behind.”

DID YOU LEARN SOMETHING FROM THE FIRST SESSION? HOW WAS YOUR LAP?

“The interesting thing I learned from the first run was that I didn’t think they went very fast. I thought ‘man we are going to be able to smoke that number’. The pack just rolled off pit road and was waiting. You just don’t want to be the first one off pit road. So, we were so focused or I was on being further back to get that big run that I just didn’t make it back to the line in time to complete that last lap. The whole key was completing that last lap and by not completing that last lap we lost out. I made a mistake. My bad, timing is so crucial on this whole format. I just didn’t get it right.”

Wow never been so frustrated & confused trying to qualify for a race. Not the way we intended to start the weekend.

— Jeff Gordon (@JeffGordonWeb) October 18, 2014

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