MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRICKYARD 400
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTS
JULY 23, 2017

Kasey Kahne Wins at the Famed Brickyard
Chevrolet Captures 17th Win in 24 NASCAR Races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (July 23, 2017) – Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS, made a late pass on the final re-start en route to winning the 24th annual Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for his first victory of th

e 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) season and his first win at the iconic venue.

“To win at this track is unreal,” Kahne said. “We used to always be really close. Today’s strategy got us here. This Farmers Insurance Chevrolet was great once I got out front. I just had to get there. I’m exhausted. But, an unbelievable win. The team just kept working. We had great pit stops. Farmers Insurance, Great Clips, and Chevrolet have been huge to us. To win at Indy is unbelievable.”

On the final re-start, on the seventh lap in overtime, Kahne started second and quickly took the lead. He was running out front when a multi-car wreck behind him brought out the caution. But, Kahne had passed the overtime line on the backstretch, and clinched his first win in 102 races, dating back to August 2014 at Atlanta.

“This was a ‘Never Give Up’ effort by Kasey, crew chief Keith Rodden and the No. 5 team,” said Jim Campbell Chevrolet Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “We are thrilled for Rick Hendrick to get his 10th win at the Brickyard, and we’re grateful to have a Chevy driver win for the 17th time at this special place.”

Chevrolet has now won 17 of the 24 Monster Energy Cup Series races held at the Brickyard.

“This weekend was extra special for Chevrolet with Kasey winning the Cup Series race today, and William Byron and the No. 9 Camaro team taking home the trophy in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race here at the Brickyard,” Campbell concluded.

Ryan Newman, No. 31 Velveeta Shells & Cheese Chevrolet, who won this race in 2013, finished in third place for his fourth top-five of the season.

Chris Buescher, No. 37 Clorox Chevrolet, and teammate AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet SS, finished ninth and 10th respectively giving Team Chevy four of the top 10 finishers overall.

Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) was in contention for what could have been a record-tying fifth victory at the Brickyard, but spun into the wall while racing for the lead with two laps remaining. He ended up in 27th place.

Brad Keselowski (Ford) finished second, Joey Logano (Ford) was fourth and Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was fifth to round out the top five finishers.

The race was delayed for one hour and 43 minutes on lap 12 because of inclement weather.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series continues next Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – Race Winner
THE MODERATOR: We are joined now by the winner of today’s race, Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
Kasey, you had quite a race out there today. Your first victory since 2014, your 18th career victory. It was one of those wild, crazy, did‑that‑kind‑of‑happen kind of days, then you find your way to Victory Lane. How were you able to make that happen today?
KASEY KAHNE: Yeah, I mean, I was just not going to give up. First off, the strategy worked out perfectly when we pitted and got to the lead. We had been running 11th to 14th, somewhere in there I feel like. Had a pretty good car at the time, once we got it to turn. Early on, it was on the tight side. Once we got it to turn, it was actually pretty quick. We just needed to get the track position.
Everything worked out perfectly on that strategy. We got to the front, then it was restart after restart. We got the first one, was pulling away, then there was a wreck. The second one, we were three‑wide into three, there was a wreck. Then the next one, Keselowski kind of figured out how to get the lead there. Then the final one, we were able to get the lead back.
I had a great car out front. I had a pretty good car all day long. It was just a matter of kind of getting that last little bit of turn in the car, then controlling the track bar to keep rear grip in it as the tires wore off.
I was really happy. Unbelievable to win at Indianapolis. Unbelievable to win a Cup race. It’s been a while. It feels really good for myself and my confidence. I know it’s great for our team. We needed it as a team.
Just really, you know, excited. Indy, I moved here in 1999, live here for three summers, raced Sprint cars, midgets all around the area. This was the track that I always wanted to win at, and dreamed of racing at.
Me and my dad, when we first moved here, we got a shop on Gasoline Alley. We came over, went to the museum, then got on a bus. They bused us around the track. Got to feel the track in a bus. That was a really cool day. That was in 1999. That was a blast to be part of that with my dad.
Then to be able to race here starting in ’04. Came close at winning some races early on, led a lot of laps in ’12 or ’13. Was close again. To pull it off this year, it’s unbelievable.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open up the floor to questions.

Q. If you’re the leader going into overtime like you were, is that race you should win if you are a Hendrick driver, considered to be an elite driver?
KASEY KAHNE: I think it’s one of those things that you as a driver, you know, all you’re trying to do is everything correctly, and control. As the leader, you’re trying to control it, right? That’s your prize for being the leader, is to control the restart. They put marks on the wall. You get to control it in those areas.
I didn’t get to control that one restart, so I was confused as can be why the guy in second gets to control the start. Then before I was even going, I was getting pushed from behind because the inside row was going. It made sense why Denny was pushing me. I’m the one that gets to control it.
That one didn’t work out very well. The other ones did. The final one, we started second. I had a great restart, you know, engine‑wise, gearing‑wise, was able to clear Brad off turn one. It worked out perfect. We got the win.
As an elite driver, you want to win that, but there’s a bunch of guys that want to win it. You do all you possibly can, and it fell in our favor today.

Q. There has been a lot of talk about your team’s struggles the last couple years. Did you ever wonder if you were going to win again?
KASEY KAHNE: Oh, man, it’s been a while since I’ve won, so… I mean, you have to wonder, like, you know, as a driver all I want to do is win, all I want to do is perform. I put the effort in each week, whether it’s at the shop, whether it’s physically, mentally, at the race shop trying to prepare, watching videos, looking through old notes, how can we be better.
My team works really hard, as well. But we haven’t had the performance. We haven’t ran up front. We don’t lead a lot of laps. We don’t lead many laps. Yeah, those things have to cross your mind. If they don’t, something would be wrong, I think.
I think a win like today can give myself confidence and momentum, our whole team a boost, which is something that we need. We work hard, too. But the guys that are winning and running up front, their momentum, their confidence is tough to keep up with when it’s been a couple years.
Yeah, I feel like this is a huge win for us. Being the Brickyard means even more to me. One of the toughest, biggest races that you can win in NASCAR. So, yeah, it feels really, really good.

Q. Three weeks ago you said you still had wins in you, you just didn’t know when they would come. Did you ever dream it would be three weeks later at the Brickyard?
KASEY KAHNE: I don’t know. This is a track I always wanted to win at. Feel like I’ve actually been really fast here since I started. 2004, we had one of the best cars here. Jeff Gordon won. But we had to pass the field from the back, and were able to. I think we were in fourth.
But ’05, battled with Tony all the way to the end. He got his first win at the Brickyard. We were right there with him the whole time. To me, it’s always been a track that I felt really good about and confident with. To win here is unreal.
I’ve been to all the races here. I’ve been to Brickyards, 500s, Formula One races. I went around the track in a bus with my dad. This place is pretty neat. I got kicked offer the track once when I was at Gasoline Alley. I was jogging, I came here, jumped a fence, because I wanted to run around the racetrack. It didn’t take but probably two minutes and they were on me in a truck. It wasn’t like a race weekend, it was an open day.
It’s pretty wild. This is a neat place. Spent a lot of time here thinking and dreaming about winning at this track. Literally just racing at it was pretty awesome.

Q. You talk about all the technical stuff you did. How deep was the determination to accomplish that being a special place to you?
KASEY KAHNE: Absolutely. I was sitting on the frontstretch after they gave the 2 the lead. We were sitting there for 20 minutes or 15 minutes. All I could think about was what can I do here, what can I do here to not let this go.
I could picture a couple restarts in my mind from other racetracks. Myself and Jeff Gordon had a restart here in ’12 or ’13. I could picture those things, trying to run through my mind on what I needed to do. It worked out.
I knew I needed separation when I got to turn one. We were able to get back to the throttle right away, get clear. So, yeah, the determination was there.
My body was lacking fluid. I was cramping pretty badly. But it didn’t matter at that point. It was just all about trying to win at the Brickyard.

Q. Talk about how you’re feeling now and what it was like the last few laps, and what sent you to the infield care center?
KASEY KAHNE: Yeah, I feel really good now. I went and got some IV, a huge bag of fluid. I feel great. I feel like I could probably go racing right now (laughter).
I was struggling there. Before the first red, my left leg was cramping. I knew then I was out of fluids. My calf, my left calf, had started long before that under braking. After the reds, my right leg started, my chest, my rib and my left arm. It just kept getting worse.
But I’ve cramped before, so it wasn’t like the end of the world or anything. But like on the restart, as soon as I get to wide open throttle, my leg would cramp out. So then it was kind of like to back pedal and stuff was a bit annoying.
But it was what it was. I just sweated way too much, I guess. I didn’t drink near enough fluid. I work out really hard, I bike, I train, run, do a lot of different things, swim. Didn’t really help me today, I don’t think.

Q. Just wondering now that you’re in the Playoffs, how do you move forward with the 5 team? What did Rick Hendrick say to you in Victory Lane?
KASEY KAHNE: He was just really excited and proud of us to finally get a win. I slapped all my guys five on the wall, just felt really good about that, seeing the guys up on the wall, how excited they were. I climbed back in the car. It was a late race, you’re not going to do an interview out there. Need to get to Victory Lane.
I saw him standing at the gate. He was trying to come over. He came over. He was just really happy that we won. Just told me, Great job. Asked me if I needed any fluids and things. He could see I was hurting.
Yeah, it was just neat. It’s always neat to win. Like ever since I started racing for anybody, even my dad, even Steve Lewis back when I raced the 91 car here, the midget, if you see the owner after you win, how happy they are, how excited they are, that’s a great feeling. That’s what I saw with Mr. H today. It felt really good.
I have that same feeling when Brad Sweet, Darren Pittman win sprint car racing. It just feels really good. You’re proud of them. You’re proud of your driver, your team. You’re proud of what you do, what you put into the sport, as an owner.
Like, it was neat to see him come over to the car, give me a hug. I’m in the car, so he couldn’t really get in there. Worked out pretty well.

Q. How to you approach the Playoffs?
KASEY KAHNE: We’re a little ways away from the Playoffs. We need to keep getting better. I think we really need to figure out how to qualify better, get that track position. Today the track position was key. Once I got to the front, I felt great. When I was in clean air in the back, I felt great, too. It was just a matter of getting to where we needed to be.
We need to really work on that. There’s a couple other things we need to work on with the car, the braking, things I struggled with early on in this race. We fixed it the last half of the race. I was struggling with picking up throttle, how it would point the car in the wrong direction.
We have a lot to work on, for sure, but we are heading the right direction. We won a big race today. I feel good about it, man. I feel like I can still race these cars. I’ve known that, and I’ve wanted to, and I have the passion to. So to be able to get a win at this track, this stage, was great for our whole team today, for sure.

Q. You mentioned earlier it being tough to keep up with the guys who win and have a lot of success in the sense of the confidence. Can you further explain what the challenge is. This is only one race, how this might help.
KASEY KAHNE: Well, I think it helps me personally. I think it helps. It has to help the driver. But from a team standpoint, when you’re, like, working as hard as you can every single week, putting in tons of hours, you’re away from your family, all this stuff’s going on, you’re not getting results for two years. At some point, there’s no way me as a driver or my team guys are doing what some of the other teams are doing. I mean, it’s just the way that life is, I think. It’s the way that we work.
So I would hope that this would give us all confidence and give us momentum and push us to, yeah, we’ve been at the shop, giving 100%, but now we really are giving 100%. Now we’re really excited to go to the next race because we didn’t run 15th or 18th or crash today, we actually won the Brickyard 400. So I just think that it helps me and it helps my guys.
I don’t see how that can’t make us better the last 17 races of the year.

Q. How much will this help you?
KASEY KAHNE: Maybe just be more, like, excited to be at the track, you know, more excited. I love driving the cars. I love racing. I go and race my Sprint car when I have time because I enjoy that stuff. But just be a little more happy in doing it.
There are a lot of reasons to be happy. After a win like this, hopefully that gets all of us just pointed in the right direction a little bit better, working for each other a little bit more, having faith in each other. I think all those things help. There has to be things that you lack after a couple years of not winning races.
Especially when you have great ‑‑ you know, Jimmie Johnson, the guy still wins, he wins all the time. He’s unbelievable. So to have a teammate like that, then we’re not performing as well as we need to or want to, it’s beats on you a little bit, so…
This has to help.

Q. Rick said the plans aren’t set for the 5 car for next year. Do you think after this win that this could help you stay at Hendrick Motorsports? You just perform the best you can perform, wherever chips kind of fall where they may?
KASEY KAHNE: Yeah, I think this just shows I still want to win races. This shows that I gave it all that I can to get a win. It shows that I’m passionate about driving stockcars, that I can still win races, too.
I have a deal through 2018 with Hendrick Motorsports. Hear a lot of things, but tough to say exactly what’s going to happen because I don’t know at this point this time. I know me and Mr. H will figure it out.
But I think this just shows that I want to do it, and that I still have the drive and passion to do it, and I enjoy it. So I’m going to keep trying hard, I know that.

Q. What were you thinking when Jimmie took you three‑wide on the backstretch?
KASEY KAHNE: Jimmie didn’t have any options. He had the run. Me and Brad were both ‑‑ Brad was probably a little on the tight side being up there, trying to finish the throttle. I was loose. I was sideways under Brad, like slid all the way to his door off turn two. Jimmie was coming from behind, had a little gap getting into the corner, was able to get the run. His only option was to put us three‑wide.
But we all had about the same amount of speed down the whole straightaway. Nobody lifted getting into turn three. I’m surprised that two of us even came out of that. I could have saw all three of us being in the wall at that point. We both came out of it. Hate that Jimmie got in that wreck. He was sideways really early. I’d have to watch it again to see it really well, but I felt like he was sideways early coming in my direction pretty quickly. I think I bounced off the 2 also.
It was wild. There’s no other options. It was three‑wide going into turn three. That’s the way it was going to be.

Q. Talked to Ricky Craven about being that car at Hendrick Motorsports. You’re not the 24, you’re not the 48, you’re that car. He says everyone wants to tell you what you need to do to improve your job, but you have to find that within. Who have you relied on during this three‑year drought, who do you lean on to get through those tough times?
KASEY KAHNE: That’s tough. I mean, that’s actually a really tough question because I don’t really lean on a lot. I think the best thing for me is I get a call from Tanner on FaceTime after a race and I’m instantly happy from my son. Like, that’s who I got to stay happy and grounded in my life.
But as far as the team stuff goes, I just keep trying hard. I keep working hard. I keep wanting it. It just doesn’t seem to happen all the time.
So I don’t know. Just kind of feel like you’re out on your own little deal a lot of times, your own little island, trying to do the best that you can. Things don’t work out too often for us. So it was great to be able to win up, close it, get in front of the 2, at the Brickyard in Indianapolis. It was unbelievable.
But, yeah, I don’t know. I don’t really have anybody, to tell you the truth. I just feel like I kind of enjoy life a lot because of my son and just try to show up at the track and do the best that I possibly can and put the work in during the week, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to run well. Everybody is putting the work in. The competition is so tight, so close. You need that little bit extra all the time. Hopefully this win will give us some of that because we definitely haven’t had that.

Q. You’ve been running up front, but bad luck seems to have plagued you every race. How does it feel to finally be able to burst through that barrier?
KASEY KAHNE: It feels good because I think today was actually the strategy and the way that the caution came at that exact time, it was complete luck. So the luck was on my side more than on anyone else’s today. For us to finish it off and get the win on that type‑‑ I don’t know if I’ve ever won a race before because of luck like that, to get to the front like we did.
I think the strategy, the caution, like the luck was on the 5 car’s side today, and I was able to pull it off. So, yeah, it feels pretty good.
THE MODERATOR: Kasey, congratulations again on the win. Good luck next week at Pocono.

RICK HENDRICK, WINNING TEAM OWNER AND KEITH RODDEN, WINNING CREW CHIEF:
THE MODERATOR: We’re going to go ahead and continue on with our post‑race media availability. We’re joined by crew chief Keith Rodden of the winning car, the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet.

Keith, this 5 team has been through a lot. Really persevered through a lot of struggle. Today you really had to outlast your competition to get to Victory Lane. How sweet of a victory is this for you?

KEITH RODDEN: I think it’s probably one of the sweetest races you can win. Obviously, Indianapolis is a huge racetrack, ton of history here. Every time you turn in, get to the museum, you’re like, Oh, man. Just so cool to be here and be able to experience it.

Obviously, it’s a huge, huge win for us. It’s not just about the 5 team. I mean, it’s a huge win for everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. Incredibly proud of all the men and women there, whether it’s the chassis shop, engine shop, everyone is working together closer than they ever have.

It’s all about coming together and making it where we all run first through fourth every week. We all know that’s idealistic and it might not always happen, but that’s our goal.

Today was a big day. We always talk about how much bad luck we have really as a company, but definitely on the 5 car. Sometimes you make your own luck, sometimes things happen that are completely out of your control. Today was one of those things where we made a decision to alter our pit strategy a little bit.

When it was time to pit, they all wrecked, all four. Thankfully everyone is okay. But that led to us being able to leave pit road with four fresh tires and enough fuel. When everyone pitted in front of us, we took the lead, were able to control the series of the restarts that started happening.

Really good day for everybody. Super proud of everybody. And this is the largest media center I’ve ever been in (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open the floor for questions.

Q. Killer, you’ve been with Kasey for a long time. This has been a really rough stretch for him. Not that he needs vindication, but what kind of a moral victory is this, in addition to picking up the trophy?

KEITH RODDEN: I think it’s a huge moral victory for him and everyone on our team. He does an incredible job. I don’t think he gets near the credit that he deserves. I feel like every race we actually run pretty good lap times at some point in the race, we never can get anybody to pay any attention to us. We don’t have the exposure, not high enough, don’t qualify high enough, something happens, get a flat tire, get caught by a caution.

I feel like when you start letting that all pile on, it just builds and builds and builds. I think today we caught a break. At the same time, he had to defend everyone else that was left in the race and have really good restarts three times in a row. Ultimately, restarted second and won the race. I think that says a lot to his talent and his ability. I was really glad that happened.

So, you know, the other stuff you’ll have to ask him. But honestly, I feel like he comes to the track prepared every week. First practice here on Saturday morning, we were the fastest car ‑‑ we weren’t the fastest car on the long run, but we were the fastest car taking off in race trim. We ran some really good laps. We were definitely a top‑five car right off the truck in race trim.

The 11 I think tested here, so they showed up in qualifying trim. When you looked at the pylon, the 11 was first and we were second, Kenseth was third. But our car had a lot of speed. I think that was really good. That gives everybody on the whole team a little bit of pep in their step.

We got too loose in qualifying. Everyone knows the story here. It’s tough to pass. We passed up to about 12th and then just rode. Kept getting tires and then having to restart. Seemed like we kept restarting on the outside. It was a little bit of a detriment to us in the race.

Other than that, I don’t really know. I think it’s going to be a big momentum boost for everyone on our team. I think they get to see all their hard work realized. Obviously, Daytona we were very fast. Went to the back three times. Went straight back to the front. We didn’t finish the deal, right? Today we finished the deal, so it’s really special.

Q. You probably have heard the speculation about Kasey and the 5 team. Have you had those discussions with Kasey, Rick, personnel on the team about what might happen to the team, who your driver might be for next year?

KEITH RODDEN: None at all. I don’t worry about any of that. All I worry about is our race team, keeping all the guys focused and ready, frankly, for an opportunity like this to present itself, right? You can’t take one minute off, can’t take one second off, can’t lose focus at all.

Through our career, there’s always been a lot of speculation. For me, working at Team Hendrick, it’s been very stable. It’s really nice. But when you’re not winning races, not getting the job done, I think you have your own answer.

I don’t really worry about it. All I keep worrying about is keeping the guys focused and motivated each week, and have it where they show up ready to do their jobs. Our road crew works so, so hard. Everybody knows about the 16‑and‑a‑half‑hour day yesterday. They just killed it, did an incredible job. They all have great, great attitudes. Our pit crew is really, really good. They’re super strong.

I can’t wait to start running up front more and more and more, and let those guys show off their ability, as well.

THE MODERATOR: I’d like to welcome to the stage Rick Hendrick, the team‑winning owner. Today was Mr. Hendrick’s 10th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is a series high, has five wins with Jeff Gordon, four with Jimmie Johnson, and now one with Kasey Kahne.

Mr. Hendrick, how sweet of a victory was this for you?
RICK HENDRICK: Any time you can win here, it’s special. This place is so special. It’s been a crazy day. So happy for Keith and Kasey and Farmers. Really proud of them. Kasey really gutted it out on those last couple of restarts. So just really happy.

Happy for the organization, happy for those guys.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll continue with questions.

Q. Rick, what does this win do for Kasey’s future?

RICK HENDRICK: Puts him in the Chase, in the Playoffs. You know, we’re excited about that. I hope this turns the corner. The team’s had a lot of bad luck. Pocono is a good race for Kasey and Keith. We’ll go up there and try to do it again.

Q. You were in the pit, at 2:30 the race took off. All the things that happened, have you ever been in an eight‑hour race like that, all the turns and twists?

KEITH RODDEN: Probably not of this magnitude. We had a race a few years ago at Daytona that kind of started and stopped, restarted later.

But there’s lots of twists. Like I said, we just had to try to figure out a way to do something different and try to end up in front, and that’s what we did. We definitely turned the luck around a little bit. We still had to win the race, and Kasey did that. So did a great job.

Q. Keith, the race really seemed to come into your hands a lot towards the end, but the elements definitely changed a lot. There was rain, cooled down a little bit, but what did that do to the car? Did that help Kasey out a little bit more or did that force you guys to change your strategy a little bit?

KEITH RODDEN: I don’t really think it changed the car a lot. I think the car was actually pretty similar today. One thing that did keep happening, it seemed like every time we would pit and put on sticker tires, the caution would come out. It’s like you had like a little mini heat cycle in the tires. We just run stickers here for our car this weekend, we were freer.

It’s kind of hard because you don’t know how to adjust. You’re staying out for track position. Really to me the heat cycles on the tires over and over, some of those runs, kind of gave us a little bit of a bad idea on what the car was doing.

But otherwise, just getting the track position and getting up front. I mean, you’re just so, so much faster. That was probably the best thing that helped our car.

Q. Rick, could you talk about and describe your emotions and reaction over the last 20 laps of that race with Kasey leading.

RICK HENDRICK: You know, this has been up and down having problems with two cars. All of a sudden you look up and it looks like Jimmie and the 2 and Kasey are going to come down to the final here three abreast. Then the 48 has a problem. Then those two restarts. Your heart’s in your throat.

Roger Penske is a good friend of mine. We were texting each other before the restart, or emailing each other.
You know, you just can’t count on a victory here, especially when you got a green‑white‑checkered. These guys are diving all over the place. It’s pretty exciting for the fans, but it’s pretty rough if you’re sitting there as a car owner.

You just know if he could get into one, you know, come off of two there, we’d be in good shape. But the restart before that, I think Denny got into the back of him, tried to help him, and actually made him bobble, and the 2 got by us.

A race like this, you know, you don’t know till the checkered flag. It kind of hits you when you’re celebrating with all the guys out there, because to win the Brickyard is a big deal. For those guys to be able to kiss the bricks, do all the things, great for Farmers and Chevrolet. Chevrolet was out there with us.

You know, these kind of races, when it happens that close to the end, you kind of don’t really get it all sunk in until the next day. So big deal.

Q. Keith, five of the last seven races have ended under accident for you guys. In one sense, were you almost waiting to get caught up in it because of all the luck? Kasey has talked more about his passion, feels like he needs to get that out a little bit more, maybe people don’t get that sense. How do you see the passion of Kasey? This certainly hasn’t been an easy period for him.

KEITH RODDEN: Yeah, we’ve had a little bit of a rough stretch. You just have to keep communicating, whether it’s me and Kasey or everybody on the team, keep everyone prepared. I don’t want to keep repeating the same stuff, but that’s really the thing. That’s my job. My job is to lead the team, keep them ready, understand at any moment this sport is crazy and anything can happen to put you into position to win. There we were on the biggest stage, executed and got the job done.

As far as his passion, he’s really quiet. Just because you’re quiet doesn’t mean you don’t want it. You don’t need to scream and shout and stuff either. I think channeling your emotions correctly.

I was giving our spotter a little bit of advice on the last restart, like, Don’t yell at him, he knows what he needs to do. We’d look at some stuff a lot, we know a lot about one another, we know what motivates each other. Yelling at him, telling him, C’mon, let’s do it, get a good one, that’s not going to work.

I think we did all the right stuff. He executed an incredible restart at the end, so…

RICK HENDRICK: Yeah, I think when you talk to Kasey, and I have, in the meetings, the debriefs, especially when you’ve had a rough road, your confidence gets down. He said, I know I can do it. The harder I try, the more it seems like I have this rough bad luck.

Something like this can be really good for any guy to have, the whole team, to have confidence. You’re going get wrecked or something is going to happen. It would be a tire, it would be speeding, it would be a loose wheel, just things that happen to everybody. I think Kyle Busch is going through it right now. I mean, he’s running awful good to not have won a race.

When you try really hard, I mean, all I can say about Kasey is he shows up, he shows up on time, and he shows up on time with his game face on, and he puts in the effort.
Sometimes it just takes a break. But he’s done everything. I know in his heart he wants to do it. He’s trying, so…

Q. Rick, will Kasey Kahne be driving your No. 5 car in the Cup Series next year?

RICK HENDRICK: Our plans are not set for the 5 car. So, you know, you guys asked me that this morning, and I told you, you know, that we hadn’t made any plans yet. There’s nothing concrete or done, and that hasn’t changed.

We’ll see how things shake out, you know, the rest of the year. There’s a lot of things involved, sponsors and a lot of things we look at. We’re going to try hard. But there’s no decisions made at this time.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations on your victory today. Good luck next week at Pocono.

KEITH RODDEN: Thank you.

RICK HENDRICK: Thanks.

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 VELVEETA SHELLS AND CHEESE CHEVROLET SS – Finished 3rd
THE MODERATOR: We are going to start our post-race media availability. We’re joined today by today’s third‑place finisher, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 31 Velveeta Shells and Cheese Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.

Ryan, a crazy race out there. Walk through it from your perspective.

RYAN NEWMAN: We just took advantage of the track position when we could. It paid off, but not to the extent that we wanted it to. Kasey had a little better car, got through the gearbox a little better than us on the restart three or four there before the end. Obviously, you saw did the same thing on the last restart.

Proud of our team. Big turnaround from last weekend, finishing 27th outright, to third this weekend. Proud of the effort. Still got some work to do, no doubt. We saw lots of cars get crashed in front of us. But, you know, you got to have those days, too, I guess to make you feel good.

Q. Can you gentlemen describe what the conditions were out there, what your visibility was. Then for Brad, at the beginning of the race, you weren’t crazy about your racecar. Certainly, losing the 18 and 78 had to help. Is there anything you learned in the closing stages that you can bring back next year?

RYAN NEWMAN: It was ridiculously hot inside my racecar. I don’t know what was going on, but my bottom was cooking. That just made my whole body hot, miserable. They couldn’t get enough water to me under those red flags.

But that’s pretty much it. Just miserably hot.

Q. (No microphone.)

RYAN NEWMAN: There was no issue with seeing, no. It was actually worse when the sun was setting in three and four. You couldn’t see the wall in turn three when the sun was setting.

Q. Watching Kasey get out, he was worn out, like he’d been in a 15‑round fight. Have either of you competed in a race that has been as worrying as this one was?

RYAN NEWMAN: Yeah, I think the Daytona 500 a few years ago when Montoya took out the jet drier was one of those marathons, kind of like today. So, yeah, it’s happened before. But this was really hot today. I think it was really hot for all of us, miserable. The red flags, you just sit in an oven. As soon as you shut the car off, it just gets hot inside there. There is no way for any NASCAR official or any fan to know what we go through when we’re sitting out there like that.

Q. With all the red flags, the attrition, how did the complexion of this race change throughout the event from the start to the finish?

RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t know, just a lot of attrition, right? You end up racing 20 cars in the end versus 40. Track position is always key. But, you know, it’s easier to pass 18 of ’em than it is 38.

You know, it changes your strategy, but in the end you really just want to be out front. So we stayed out with Kasey and took the track position, which worked out for us.
Q. Brad, I know this feels like an hour ago, maybe actually it was, but going three‑wide into turn three with Kasey and Jimmie, what was your thought process being stuck on the outside?

RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t know if you could see or not, but the 48 had a big oil leak. He was smoking all the way down the back straight. Looked like he was already on fire before he spun out. Just so you know.

Q. Brad, where does this rank in terms of absurdity in the races compared to 2008 with the tires here?

RYAN NEWMAN: I wouldn’t call it absurdity. I think it was just a crazy race. 2008 wasn’t a race when we had the tire problem. That was a mess.

You know, I think what we saw today was some crazy strategy, some crazy restarts. Not really that bad a racing. I’ve seen worse racing here, by far, as far as not being able to pass.

So, you know, a guy could get up underneath somebody, shake them loose, move them out of the way, whereas in the past you would lose your whole racecar. I didn’t think it was ideal, but it was definitely crazy.

Q. One of the things that made this race as long as it was, was the red flags. What are some of the feelings and thoughts that go through your mind when you’re sitting there in the car after a red flag, especially with the early red flag for rain, then the last couple of red flags there at the end? You’re up front close into winning this. Are there any nerves going through your mind at that point? Keeping calm, talking to your crew?

RYAN NEWMAN: I was too hot to take a good nap. Kind of tough just sitting there. I mean, really just miserable. Seriously just miserable inside the racecar.

RYAN NEWMAN: Yeah. It was hot.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thanks for the show you put on today. Good luck next week in Pocono.