TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
AUTO CLUB 400
FONTANA, CALIFORNIA
MARCH 18, 2018
BOWTIE BULLETS
NATIVE SON:
California native, seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion and career-long Chevrolet driver, Jimmie Johnson, is the all-time wins’ leader at the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway with six victories. The driver of the No. 48 Camaro ZL1 also has more top five (13) and more top 10 (16) finishes than any other driver at Auto Club Speedway.
CHEVY ON POLE:
Since the first race at Auto Club Speedway in 1997 (won by Chevy driver Jeff Gordon), Bowtie Brand drivers have earned half of all poles at the 2-mile, Fontana, California venue. Only twice has a driver won the Auto Club 400 from the pole. Both times – a Chevy driver – Jimmie Johnson in 2008 and last season (2017) Kyle Larson took his Chevy to victory lane after starting from the top spot.
MANUFACTURER MINUTE:
Did you know? Chevrolet has more wins than any manufacturer at Auto Club Speedway with 14 victories or half of all races held at the 2-mile track since its inception in 1997. Six different drivers have piloted the Bowtie Brand to wins in Fontana, taking five different Chevy models (Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo SS, Impala SS, Impala and SS) to victory.
image005.jpgimage007.jpgCALIFORNIA CHEVYS:
There will be six California natives entered to compete in this weekend’s Auto Club 400. Of those drivers, four will start the race behind the wheel of a Camaro ZL1. Seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson hails from El Cajon, California, driver of the No. 42 Camaro ZL1, Kyle Larson is a native of Elk Grove, California. The pilot of the No. 47 Camaro ZL1, AJ Allmendinger is from Los Gatos, California, while Cole Whitt behind the wheel of the No. 72 Camaro ZL1 hails from Alpine, California.
TUNE-IN:
The Auto Club 400 is scheduled to begin on Sunday March 18th at 3:30 pm, ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN 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 776 wins and 695 poles in MENCS competition
Chevrolet drivers have won 14 of 28 races at Auto Club Speedway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s for Pros Camaro ZL1, has six wins at Auto Club Speedway (’02, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10 & ‘16)
Kasey Kahne, No. 95 WRL General Contractors Camaro ZL1, has one win at Auto Club Speedway (’06)
Kyle Larson, No. 42 DC Solar Camaro ZL1, has one win at Auto Club Speedway (’17)
A Chevrolet driver has won two of the last three races at Auto Club Speedway
A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Auto Club Speedway 14 times
Team Chevy drivers have scored 66 top-five and 125 top-10 finishes at Phoenix International Raceway
A Chevrolet has led 3,309 laps (50.4% of possible 6,556 laps) at Phoenix International Raceway
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1 – 8TH IN STANDINGS
“Last weekend was a tough race for us, but I’m looking forward to a good run at Auto Club. It’s always a lot of fun to go to a worn-out surface. Fontana is one of my favorite tracks because there are so many different lanes to choose from and the seams are tricky to drive. It’s a super-wide race track and you can run anywhere from the bottom to the top. You need to conservative on your tires and be patient against the wall, but also aggressive. It’s just an intense race track. The race feels demanding with what you’re fighting in the car, but it’s a really fun place to drive. This weekend will be the first Cup race with DC Solar on our Camaro ZL1, so really hoping for a good race with them in their first Cup start with our team.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW COATINGS CAMARO ZL1 – 12TH IN STANDINGS
“Tire wear is the biggest part. You’re running all the way against the fence, and all the way against the bottom. There’s a good mixture. You have to have speed at the beginning of a run and then hold it for a long run. If you can’t take off you get beat on the restarts and if you can’t hold on they’re going to lap you at the end of a run. You have to have a good balance between the short and the long run. If you can do that, you’ll be pretty good. We’ve done pretty well in the past there. We started on the pole two races ago. We’ll just keep working on it. I love the track. The fans are amazing there.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CHEVROLET ACCESSORIES CAMARO ZL1 – 13TH IN STANDINGS
“I’m really looking forward to this weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Our 31 team has shown we’ve got the speed this year. If we hadn’t had the tire problem at Atlanta, I think we were the car to beat. Vegas was a little bit of a challenge and yet we still finished 11th. Phoenix we led more laps than we did in Atlanta, and frankly, we were pretty fast. Our team just needs to eliminate some of the mistakes we are making on pit road. We are by far, better than we were last year so I’m looking forward to building upon all our momentum and turning in a flawless performance this weekend. If we can do that, I feel it will translate into a win for us.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – 16TH IN STANDINGS
“Auto Club Speedway is just such a fun place. It reminds me a lot of Atlanta in some ways. It looks way different, but just the surface is old and worn out. The lines are very sensitive and you can move your car a foot or two up or down the race track and find a massive amount of grip that isn’t there two of three feet away from that, which is pretty cool. That is what makes the difference.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – 17TH IN STANDINGS
“Auto Club is a lot of fun. You can run from the bottom, really from the apron, all the way to the wall. It’s a unique racetrack and it always fun to go to.”
DARRELL ‘BUBBA’ WALLACE, NO. 42 FARMER JOHN CAMARO ZL1 – 19TH IN STANDINGS
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 HEALTHY CHOICE POWER BOWLS CAMARO ZL1 – 20TH IN STANDINGS
“Auto Club Speedway is probably my favorite large-track that we go to. Auto Club Speedway is one of the coolest large racetracks we go to. The asphalt is probably just as bad as Atlanta Motor Speedway, without some of the major bumps (other than the back straightaway). There are all kinds of options for trying to cross the seams there and run different lines. You can run from the apron of Turns 3 and 4 all the way to the wall. There’s speed to be found in a lot of different places throughout the track. I’m looking forward to getting there with our Healthy Choice Power Bowls Camaro ZL1 and seeing how we can get around that racetrack. I made my first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start there in 2015 and immediately took a liking to the track right away because of that.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – 21ST IN STANDINGS
“Fontana is one of those places that is a big mixture between somewhere like Michigan and a mile-and-a-half. It’s really wide, which is similar to Atlanta, and you can run wherever. On the first five laps after a restart, there’s a lot of grip and then it goes away quick and you’re just kind of hanging on for the rest of the run. You can get such big runs and make your car work in so many different places that it’s a blast. Coming back through the field, if you have to, feels easy if you have a good car. It’s fun to use the apron in (Turns) 3 and 4 and be able to get below the line, almost be touching the grass, and then be all the way against the wall in (Turns) 1 and 2 and making speed there. It’s just a fun racetrack for a driver, and you feel like you can make a difference.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – 25TH IN STANDINGS
“Auto Club Speedway over the last couple of years has put on some great races. Our No. 47 Kroger ClickList team has run fairly well there the last couple of years with some top-10 finishes. I always enjoy going out there. It’s one of those places where you can run four or five different lanes and you can pick and choose which you like best throughout a green-flag run. Throughout the course of the race it changes a lot. The tires go away quick, so how you use your tires early in the run dictates where you’ll be in the end. It’s a fun racetrack and I really enjoy it. We’ve had a good baseline setup there in the past, so hopefully we can go out there and have some speed.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – 26TH IN STANDINGS
“We have had a lot of success in California so our expectations are really high. We went to Atlanta having a ton of past success and had a tough day. We are chipping away every week and finding speed. Last week wasn’t the result we wanted, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. Huge props to my Lowe’s for Pros team. You never forget the site of your first win, I love going ‘home’ and seeing familiar faces.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 – 28TH IN STANDINGS
“I think the biggest challenge at Auto Club Speedway are the bumps on the backstretch getting into turn three. That and the seams are really slick, but the track is so wide, with multiple groves to race on; it’s a really fun track. Also, the tire fall-off is pretty significant there, so you really need to manage the tires throughout a long run. If the car is good it makes for a really fun race because there are so many grooves that you can run. If you’re having a tough weekend, it’s a miserable place because the track is so wide, you can hide.”
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 95 WRL GENERAL CONTRACTORS CAMARO ZL1 – 29TH IN STANDINGS
“Fontana can be a really fun track. It’s wide, rough, there’s lots of racing room and it’s hard to get a hold of, but it can be a blast. We’re also going to visit Procore Technologies’ headquarters, so that is going to be fun. I’m looking forward to going there and seeing some of the people I already know, as well as meeting some new people and learning more about the business.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 TWISTED TEA CHEVROLET SS – 31ST IN STANDINGS
“Auto Club Speedway is a really fun track. It’s a pretty rough track, but the groove is really wide. If it were to happen, it’s possible to go four or five wide around that racetrack easily. The groove is probably one of the widest that we race on all year. You can run anywhere from scraping the wall with your right-rear quarter panel to almost running your fender on the flat apron. It’s fun as a driver when you have a lot of options. On the flip side, the surface is getting older, so the tires are eaten up pretty quickly and can be a challenge to manage. So, I always look forward to going to Auto Club. It hasn’t always been my best track in the past, but I’m looking forward to going back this year and hopefully doing better than we have before.”