TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
ISM CONNECT 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE
SEPTEMBER 24, 2017

BOWTIE BULLETS
POISED FOR THE PLAYOFFS:
In 2017, Chevrolet is well positioned in the Playoffs in all three of NASCAR’s national series. Chevrolet has the most, or is tied for the most, participants in each series.

In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS), for the 12th consecutive season, Chevrolet has placed more drivers in the 10-race run for the championship than any other brand, and currently has seven contenders for the 2017 crown.

In the Xfinity Series playoff bracket, there are nine Team Chevy drivers in contention for the title as their Playoffs begin this weekend at Kentucky Speedway. And in the Camping World Truck Series countdown, which gets underway at NHMS this weekend, there are three Team Chevy drivers currently eligible for the title.
The statistics bode well for Chevrolet as the SS, Camaro, and Silverado travel into their respective Playoff runs.

LEADER OF THE PACK:
Chevrolet leads all other manufacturers with 19 victories at the ‘Magic Mile’. Since Jeff Gordon gave Chevy their first win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 1995, Chevrolet has powered 12 different drivers and teams to Victory Lane in the granite state.

CHEVY HISTORY MINUTE:
Did you know? Ryan Newman, pilot of the No. 31 Chevy, leads all other drivers with seven pole awards at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

TUNE-IN:
The ISM Connect 300 is scheduled to begin on Sunday, September 24 at 2 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Chevrolet has won 39 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships
Team Chevy drivers have scored 775 wins and 693 poles in MENCS competition
Chevrolet drivers have won 19 of 45 races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are:
o Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS, has collected three trophies from New Hampshire Motor Speedway (’03 – TWICE &’10)

o Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet SS, has three victories at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (’02, ’05 & ’11)

o Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Rated Red Chevrolet SS, has visited Victory Lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway once (’12)

· A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway 18 times

· Team Chevy drivers have scored 98 top-five and 186 top-10 finishes at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

· A Chevrolet has led 6,013 laps (45.9% of possible 13,260 laps) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

QUOTABLE QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – 2ND IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“I was glad to see us have a solid start to the playoffs last weekend at Chicago. We scored some points in each of the stages and came away with a top-five, and didn’t make mistakes, which was how we wanted to race this round. Loudon has been kind of a hit or miss track me us, but we’ve definitely been better there the last few races. We’ll look to get all we can out of our Target Chevy this weekend and hopefully have another solid race to put us in a good position coming down to the end of the first round of the playoffs.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CHEVROLET SS – 6TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“New Hampshire is just a very one-lane track and very difficult to make ground. You really have to be superior to the guy ahead of you to get to him and be able to do anything with him without rooting him up out of the way or something. And sometimes that is just how people pass and how you have to make ground there. That is the biggest thing it is just tough to make ground in a hurry and make anything happen.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – 8TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“I felt like we started off the playoffs in the right direction. My Lowe’s teammates worked their guts out last weekend and we made some big changes to the car throughout the weekend. It was so much better on Sunday. I’m looking forward to this weekend at New Hampshire. We have found some speed there as of late and then Dover is next, which I can’t wait for.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CHEVROLET SS – 11TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“We are going to what I think is the most difficult track to pass on this weekend. Loudon if a tough track from the standpoint of track position and restarts are so important. The corners are so flat, so it makes it tough to get a good run off the corners to pass someone. We qualified good there at the first race this season, so hopefully we can back that up and maintain track position throughout the day. In these Playoff races, it will be critical to try and score some stage points to be in position to move on in each round.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 CHEVROLET ACCESSORIES CHEVROLET SS – 12TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“Yeah, New Hampshire is oddly shaped, but it’s one of the tracks I have more laps on than any track probably, because I grew up in the East Series and we raced there twice a year running bias-ply tires sliding around on that place. Experience wise, it is one of our best tracks to go to for me. I enjoy it. There is not a track in this first round that I don’t like. As far as the use of VHT, I thought it was pretty good in the spring. I don’t know where we finished that first race at New Hampshire this year. I thought it was a pretty solid run though. I remember being in contention at certain points in the race. I thought that stuff wore out and the track got cleaned back off by the end of it, but it definitely put something in there during practice and the first half of the race that you had to work around.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CAT D10 CHEVROLET SS – 15TH IN PLAYOFF STANDINGS
“Our race in Chicagoland was an absolute disaster. We regrouped on Monday to see what possibly went wrong for us. It’s important that we keep up with good communication because we need to fix what happened on Sunday as soon as possible. We were kind of at a loss during the race because our Caterpillar D10 Decades Chevrolet was solid on Friday and Saturday. It’s also disappointing because we’ve been running on a streak of four-straight top-10s. Fortunately for us, we are still very much in it. New Hampshire Motor Speedway is typically a good race for us. I’ve won there and whether it was in 2003 or 2017, we’ll do our best and keep fighting like we always do.”

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 RATED RED CHEVROLET SS – 16TH IN PLAYOFF IN STANDINGS
“New Hampshire is a tough track and it’s unique because it’s a flat track. You need a car that handles well, obviously. Qualifying well is helpful and strategy is a big deal because track position is so important there. I remember when I won there — (then-No. 5 team crew chief) Kenny Francis made the right call to get us a restart position on the front row towards the end of the race and I was able to take the lead. We had a strong car that day and the perfect strategy and won the race.”

CHEVROLET DRIVERS NOT IN PLAYOFF CONTENTION:
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – 22ND IN STANDINGS
“We spent several hours in the simulator on Monday trying to figure something out for this week. We aren’t riding this year out or giving up. We’re going to keep working hard the rest of the season. I’m looking forward to New Hampshire – it’s a fun track. It’s flat and it’s kind of tricky to get around, but it’s fun.”

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 SYLVANIA/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – 23RD IN STANDINGS
“It’s really hard to pass at New Hampshire. They put the PJ1 stuff down the last time we were there, and I’m sure they’re going to probably do that again, but hopefully do it a little bit differently. It wasn’t put down in exactly the right spot last time. We’ll see what they do, but that dictates a lot about how we set up the Sylvania/Menards Chevrolet for the race weekend.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – 24TH IN STANDINGS
“It’s so unique with it being a mile and it is so flat. They kind of threw another curve ball into the mix by putting down the PJ1 for the last race. I actually thought it made the racing pretty good. I’m looking forward to seeing what New Hampshire Motor Speedway does this time as far as changing the grip in the track. If they go back with a similar set-up as far as the grip on the race track, I think it will be beneficial to us to just have another race on it. The GEICO Chevrolet SS ran pretty well and we had a pretty decent run, so, for me, being a rookie going back to these places for the second time, it’s just building off of learning so much in the first run and seeing how far we have come in the second round.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, NO. 95 PROCORE CHEVROLET SS – 25TH IN STANDINGS
“It feels like we were just at Loudon. It’s nice to go back to a track that you were just at, because you know what you had as far as setup. You also know what works and what doesn’t work. We are going to fine-tune and keep working on what we had at the race in July, and we plan on maximizing every opportunity we get.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 SCOTT PRODUCTS CHEVROLET SS – 26TH IN STANDINGS
“Heading back to another short track we have had quite a few of these over the past couple of weeks. The grip strip that they put on the track last time, not only on the bottom, but up towards the middle was very interesting. I think there are some things that we learned there. We have ideas on what to work on going forward so, we will see what we can do to get around that place a little bit more efficiently than last time and try and get a win.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CHEVROLET SS – 27TH IN STANDINGS
“New Hampshire is a flat one-mile oval a tough race track, one of those places that you are always trying to get your car to turn, but you don’t want to be too loose. A race track that basically is as close as you can get to a roller coaster. You jump into the corners you feel like you are running 230 mph around that place. It’s one of the coolest race tracks I’ve ever been to, fun, a place that we have had really good success at and hopefully even more this time.”