39-TIME MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPION – NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
CAN-AM 500
AVONDALE, ARIZONA
NOVEMBER 13, 2016
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DOMINANCE DEFINED: CHEVROLET LOOKS TO CONTINUE WINNING STREAK AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
Bowtie Brand Focused on Adding Additional Participants to Championship Four in Homestead
DETROIT – (November 9, 2016) – Chevrolet enters the penultimate race of the 2016 season ready to continue the brand’s winning streak at Phoenix International Raceway. With six consecutive victories at the 1-mile short track in the Avondale, Arizona valley, Chevrolet currently holds the longest active run of victories at a single track, more than any other manufacturer in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
With two races left in the 2016 Chase campaign, Chevrolet’s Jimmie Johnson is assured a spot in the Championship Four at Homestead-Miami Speedway to make a historic run for title number seven. Fellow Chevrolet Chase contenders, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch are in an all but must win situation headed into this weekend’s 312-lap/312-mile contest on the uniquely shaped PIR short track.
The pilot of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS has been known to be able to deliver when the team’s back is against the wall. Without a win or at least a very strong performance, they are facing potential elimination from Chase Championship contention. Harvick is an eight-time winner at PIR, the most of any driver to have ever competed at the desert venue. The 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion has won five of the last six races at PIR and the race he did not win finished runner-up in a rain-shorted event.
Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate and fellow Chaser, Kurt Busch, is also a past winner at Phoenix, but has not been victorious at the track since it’s repave and reconfiguration in the fall of 2011. Busch will have to rely on help from his teammate and find his way to the checkered flag first should he want to make it to the Championship Four at Homestead for the first time in his Sprint Cup career since this format was established in 2014.
Who will move on? Who will be eligible to hoist the hardware in Homestead? Will a driver and team not currently in Chase contention steal a win? All these questions and more will be answered when 40 of NASCAR’s best put rubber to the road at PIR and compete for the second to last time this season. It all comes down to 312 intense laps around one of the sports toughest tracks.
The ninth race of the 10-race Chase playoff from PIR is scheduled to begin Sunday, November 13 at 2:30 p.m., ET Live coverage will be available on NBC, MRN, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
TEAM CHEVY FOR THE FANS AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY:
· Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Midway area at Phoenix International Raceway
· Fans can check out great Chevrolet vehicles including: Colorado, Silverado 1500, Silverado 2500, Equinox, Impala, Malibu, Cruze and Camaro
· Fans can get an up close and personal look inside a race car by exploring the No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro show cars
· Also on display is a Chevrolet R07 racing engine complete with electronic fuel injection. Fans can also see a sample of engines, parts and accessories available for purchase from Chevrolet Performance at their local Chevrolet dealer
· Other activities at the Team Chevy Racing Display include a variety of interactive games for adults and kids
DRIVER FAN Q&A APPEARANCES:
· Friday, November 11th
o 11:30 a.m. – Spencer Gallagher and Kaz Grala
o 2:45 p.m. – Austin Dillon
o 3:45 p.m. – John Hunter Nemechek
· Saturday, November 12th
o 12:30 p.m. – Blake Koch
o 12:45 p.m. – Ty Dillon
o 1:00 p.m. – Brandon Jones and Brendan Gaughan
o 1:45 p.m. – Ray Black, Jr.
· Sunday, November 13th
o 9:00 a.m. – Clint Bowyer
o 9:30 a.m. – Regan Smith
o 10:00 a.m. – Kasey Kahne
· Hours of operation: Fri. Nov. 11th – 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.; Sat. Nov. 12th – 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. and Sun. Nov. 13th – 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
TEAM CHEVY IN NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (NSCS) COMPETITION:
· Chevrolet has won 39 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Manufacturer Championships
· Team Chevy drivers have scored 764 wins and 686 poles in NSCS competition
CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK—PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY:
Chevrolet drivers have won 22 of 40 races at Phoenix International Raceway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are:
Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, has eight victories at Phoenix International Raceway (’06 – TWICE, ’12, ’13, ’14 – TWICE, ’15, ‘16)
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 KOBALT Chevrolet SS, has four wins at Phoenix International Raceway (’07, ’08 – TWICE & ‘09)
Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet SS, has one win at Phoenix International Raceway (’05)
Ryan Newman, No. 31 CAT Minestar Chevrolet SS, has one victory at Phoenix International Raceway (’10)
Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS, has one win at Phoenix International Raceway (’11)
Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS, has one victory at Phoenix International Raceway (’99)
A Chevrolet driver has won six of the last six races at Phoenix International Raceway
A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Phoenix International Raceway 18 times
Team Chevy drivers have scored 103 top-five and 194 top-10 finishes at Phoenix International Raceway
A Chevrolet has led 5,681 laps (44.6% of possible 12,739 laps) at Phoenix International Raceway
TEAM CHEVY FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 KOBALT CHEVROLET SS – POINTS LEADER
“Phoenix is going to be like every other race weekend for this Lowe’s team. We are heading there to win. There is no such thing as a ‘throw away’ race in my mind. If my pit crew has more exposure in racing for the win, they have more pressure on them. We could all use practice with pressure because Homestead will bring a lot of pressure. So pressure is good for us. We will be racing for every point we can race for, even if we are locked in. We will race our race and let everyone else race theirs.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – 6TH IN STANDINGS
ON HAVING AN EDGE AT PHOENIX:
“I feel like that can be gone at any point. That’s the hardest thing about having success. You have to have an open mind to try new things to keep moving forward. If you don’t have an open mind or are not willing to try a fresh approach, then it will get stagnant. You’re going to become stale and get left behind. As we go to Phoenix, we have to look at the things that we’ve done well. Obviously, we’ve done a lot of good things. We look at the race tape and pay attention to the lines and braking, steering, throttle and all the things that you have access to and you try to mimic that immediately when you get on the racetrack. The hard part about our sport is the conditions are never the same. You never know if it’s going to be 100 degrees or if it’s going to be 50 degrees. That makes a big difference on the balance of the car, how much downforce it makes and how much tape you can run on the front. There are all kinds of things to navigate through once you get there. There are a lot of good racecar drivers and lots of circumstances that could play out to have things go wrong. You go there with a fresh start like you’ve never won there before and try to get the car dialed in.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 MONSTER ENERGY/HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – 8TH IN STANDINGS
“It seems like, each time we go back to Phoenix, the asphalt is getting a little bit older. It’s starting to get a little bit slicker, yet it still seems like you can stay out forever on tires. You are out there a long time on tires and the air pressures build up. We are going to work this time around on keeping the air pressure down and trying to make our long-run speed better.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 SUNENERGY1 CHEVROLET SS – 11TH IN STANDINGS
“I felt like it was a solid race for us in the spring. We had a good car and got a decent finish. We’d made gains throughout the race and I think that we can take a lot of that back this weekend. The guys did a great job in Texas. I think we’re just going to Phoenix to try and have the best day that we can and get a finish that these guys deserve.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – 12TH IN STANDINGS
“Last weekend was a tough race for us, so we’re looking to bounce back and have a better finish this weekend. Phoenix isn’t one of my best tracks, but we’ve qualified pretty good there and have had pretty decent finishes too. I think the crew will be looking to use some of what we learned at the Richmond race, which was really good for us, to help with this weekend’s setup, so hopefully we’ll have a strong Target Chevy off the truck. With this being the final race before Homestead, I’m sure it will be wild with guys still trying to get locked in for a chance at the championship.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CHEVROLET SS – 13TH IN STANDINGS
“We had a really good car there (at Phoenix) and ran solid the entire race. We have developed as far as from that point in time, so I’m excited to see our newest package there at Phoenix.”
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – 14TH IN STANDINGS
“I started racing at Phoenix in ’93, when I ran a USAC Silver Crown car. And since then, I’ve run USAC Midgets, Indy cars, Super Modifieds, Xfinity Series cars and, of course, Sprint Cup. So, I’ve logged a bunch of laps there. To think that it all kind of started at Phoenix, I guess you could say it’s the place where my career came full circle.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – 17TH IN STANDINGS
“Phoenix is tough track. I enjoy racing there and it’s a cool area to visit. I feel like the track stays pretty much the same even as it ages. The tire, the package we bring and the weather always plays a factor, but I feel like we pass as much there now as we did when it was first repaved. It’s definitely wider, but it always seems like the bottom is the best spot.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CAT MINESTAR CHEVROLET SS – 18TH IN STANDINGS
“When we are not in position to win the war and in this case, the Chase, we still want to win the battles even though they don’t seem to mean as much but in reality, they do for our partners and everybody else. The final two races are an opportunity for us to build at the end of the season and help us get a start on preparing for the biggest race of the season which is the Daytona 500. These races are important and we look forward to a little break in a few weeks and then we’ll jump back in and get ready for 2017. And I’m happy to say that I’m back for 2017. I feel like we have unfinished business. We didn’t put it all together this year so I’m looking forward to using these last two races to try and build towards getting our team back to contending for a Chase berth for our sponsors like Caterpillar, Grainger and WIX Filters.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 FRY’S/CLOROX CHEVROLET SS – 19TH IN STANDINGS
“I’m looking forward to going back to Phoenix because I think we’ve done some things on the flat racetracks that will help us and we’ll also have a brand new race car there. We were better in the fall at Loudon (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) and I think we can take some of those ideas on to Phoenix. That will be good. There’s some stuff we’ve got to work on when we get there.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 NATURE’S BAKERY CHEVROLET SS – 23rd IN STANDINGS
“We had a solid race at Phoenix last fall and hopefully we can do even better when we return to the track this weekend. I like Phoenix and think it’s a great track, so I hope we can have another smooth run and do well.”
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 RUSTOLEUM/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – 25TH IN STANDINGS
“Our Chevrolet was really good in the spring at Phoenix. It was definitely a top-10 car. We just overheated the brakes and melted a bead which caused us to crash. We’re definitely going back with more brake cooling to keep the tires a little cooler. We have a pretty good starting point for practice.”
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 5-HOUR ENERGY CHEVROLET SS – 27TH IN STANDINGS
“Phoenix is a tough track. I enjoy racing there, but figuring out the corners can be a challenge. Turn 1 is so different compared to (Turn) 3 and (Turn) 4. Finding the right balance in our 5-hour ENERGY Chevrolet will be very important for Sunday.”
ALEX BOWMAN, INTERIM DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS:
“I’m ready to get to Phoenix. We’ve got two chances to win this weekend, so we should be pretty good. At Hendrick Motorsports with the No. 88 team, we really haven’t discussed expectations at all – we’ve all just been doing the best job we can. But I want to win a race. I think that would do more for my career than anything else would, so we’re going to try everything we can to make that happen and if not, we’re just going to run the best we possibly can.”