TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
BOJANGLES SOUTHERN 500
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

BOWTIE BULLETS
SIX GENERATIONS OF CAMARO FOR 7 DECADES OF DARLINGTON:
Darlington Raceway and Chevrolet have partnered to have all six generations of the manufacturer’s legendary Camaro pace the field prior to the green flag for the Southern 500.

Seven different Camaros will take to the high banks of the track Too Tough To Tame driven by the following NASCAR Hall of Famers and legends of the sport:

1969 Camaro (First Gen) – driven by owner Rick Hendrick
1969 Camaro (First Gen) – driven by owner Richard Childress
1981 Camaro (Second Gen) – driven by Jeff Burton and owned by Mark Jones of Wallace, NC
1986 Camaro (Third Gen) – driven by Ray Evernham and owned by Tyler Grube of Darlington, SC
1993 Camaro (Fourth Gen) – driven by Ricky Craven and owned by Jim Ramsey of Darlington, SC
2011 Camaro (Fifth Gen) – driven by Ron Hornaday Jr. and owned by Josh Schmidt of Charlotte, NC
2017 Camaro (Sixth Gen) – driven by Ward Burton and owned by Paul Weatherford of Florence, SC

Chevrolet will also have special ‘throwback’ graphics on both the Camaro ZL1 and Camaro SS pace cars, which will serve as the ‘official’ pace vehicles for both the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series races around the 1.33-mile track.

PLAYOFF PICTURE:
With only two races remaining until the 2018 Playoffs begin, Chevrolet has three drivers (Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson) locked into the first round of the championship contest. Chevy drivers Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman are currently in points positions that could earn them a slot into the post season, but a race win at Darlington or Indianapolis would assure their participation as championship contenders.

CHEVY OVER 40 CLUB:
Chevrolet drivers and teams have earned 41 victories at the famed Darlington Raceway, more than any other manufacturer. Darlington is one of only seven tracks on the current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule where the Chevy brand has eclipsed at least 40 victories. From 1955 to today, Chevy has powered 20 different drivers to Winner’s Circle at ‘The Lady in Black’.

THROWBACK:
Since Herb Thomas took Chevrolet to Victory Lane at Darlington Race for the first time in 1955, the brand has become synonymous with winning at the track dubbed ‘Too Tough to Tame’. This weekend, Darlington celebrates another ‘Throwback’ weekend. Chevrolet has been a part of the history of the 1.366-mile venue since the track opened for competition powering 20 different drivers and teams to hoist the iconic trophy at the egg-shaped facility. Chevrolet has taken every single nameplate that it has ever competed with in NASCAR Cup Series competition to Winner’s Circle at Darlington, Bel-Air, Biscayne, Impala, Monte Carlo, Lumina and most recently SS.

TUNE-IN:
The Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway is scheduled to begin on Sunday evening September 2 at 6:00 p.m. Live coverage can be found on NBC, 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 777 wins and 699 poles in MENCS competition
Chevrolet drivers have won 41 of 114 races at Darlington Raceway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are:

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Throwback Camaro ZL1, has three trophies from Darlington Raceway (’04 – TWICE & ‘12)

A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Darlington Raceway 21 times
Team Chevy drivers have scored 182 top-five and 383 top-10 finishes at Darlington Raceway
A Chevrolet has led 13,054 laps (33.7% of possible 38,717) at Darlington Raceway

FOR THE FANS:
Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway Area at Darlington Raceway
Fans can check out great a great assortment of Chevrolet vehicles at the Team Chevy Display including: 1500 Crew Centennial, Cruze HB Premier, Corvette Conv, Trax Premier, Malibu Premier, Bolt EV, 2019 Tahoe RST, 2019 2500 HD Tribute, 2019 Traverse, 2019 Impala, 2019 Equinox, 2019 Colorado ZR2, Camaro ZL1
At the Chevrolet Display, fans can view the No. 8 Camaro ZL1 show car
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

TEAM CHEVY QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSIONS AT THE DISPLAY:
Friday, August 31st
2:15 p.m. – Michael Annett

Saturday, September 1st
11:30 a.m. – Matt Tifft
11:45 a.m. – Daniel Hemric

Sunday, September 2nd
2:20 p.m. – Austin Dillon and Richard Childress
2:40 p.m. – Chase Elliott
3:00 p.m. – Corey Lajoie and Randy Lajoie
3:25 p.m. – Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, Jr. and Richard Petty
3:45 p.m. – Greg Stumpff Throwback Helmet Painting Demo (Off Axis Paint)

Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation: Fri. Aug. 31st – 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sat. Sept. 1st – 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Sun. Sept. 2nd – 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

QUOTABLE QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1 – 9TH IN STANDINGS
“The Darlington weekend is always fun to be a part of; the throwback schemes and people dressed up makes it feel kind of like Halloween. It’s cool to see everyone embrace the throwback theme, and cool to celebrate the history of NASCAR on and off the track. We’ll have a Davey Allison throwback scheme on our DC Solar Chevy that’s based off of his No. 28 Texaco car he ran early in his career. Texaco was one of the first business’s owned by Jeff and Paulette Carpoff, who founded DC Solar, so it’s neat for them to have our paint scheme based off of one of Davey’s cars. We usually have good cars when we come to Darlington, so hopefully we have a solid weekend. This is a long, tough race, so it’s important to keep the right side clean and keep ourselves in a position to be in contention at the end.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA THROWBACK CAMARO ZL1 – 11TH IN STANDINGS
“Darlington’s just a tough place. There are a lot of things that make it tough. Running up by the wall is a difficult thing to do there. The race track is just so worn out. Tough to run up there all night and not hit it. Now-a-days if you hit the wall at all with these cars it really can destroy your day. Tough thing to do. Then obviously racing from the daylight to the dark and that is a long race in general too. A lot of challenges that come with it, but we will just try to hit them head on.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S THROWBACK CAMARO ZL1 – 14TH IN STANDINGS
“Darlington is a very cool track that really commands a ton of respect. To win there you have to be smart – it’s a long, tough night. I was stoked to see Lowe’s bring back the rally stripes on the black Kobalt car again. I remember the night we won the 200th for Hendrick Motorsports – to see the look on Mr. Hendrick’s face in victory lane was something I will never forget. Darlington is so fun to see how the garage embraces the throwback theme – it’s going to be good for the fans.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 LLUMAR CAMARO ZL1 – 15TH IN STANDINGS
“Darlington is a really cool race. That is a really tough place to get a hold of as well. I’m excited to get there. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve raced there but had some okay runs there in the past. Hopefully, being there with Hendrick Motorsports for the first time we will be really strong. IT’s a cool race, it’s a tough one, it’s long, it’s hot, but I think we can be really strong there.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 – 17TH IN STANDINGS
“I was given free rein to pick out a car that would represent Caterpillar, myself and the team. I did some research and found that one of the guys I never got to meet, always wanted to meet and always thought a lot of, Neil Bonnett, was a teammate to Dale Earnhardt and drove the No. 31 Chevy. Our No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet is painted like the Goodwrench/Mom & Pop’s paint scheme he drove at Talladega Superspeedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1993. I really love the look of this throwback and hope the fans love this scheme as much as we do. It means a lot to go to Darlington and honor Neil and his relationship with RCR.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL E15 CAMARO ZL1 – 19TH IN STANDINGS
“I have actually made it through without a Darlington stripe, but I have wiped out two cars in first practice. It’s a place that will bite you quick and you just have to have the right mentality going into it of what you are racing against. It’s not necessarily the competition as much as yourself. Mentally it’s a challenging place and I love that about it.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA THROWBACK CAMARO ZL1 – 21ST IN STANDINGS
“I love Darlington. I went there as a kid to watch the race a few times. As a driver, it’s just a fun track to get around. It’s really challenging – you have to run against the wall on both ends of the racetrack, which is very demanding on the equipment and mentally on the driver. I really enjoy it and we had a pretty good run there last year (in the NASCAR Xfinity Series), so I’m looking forward to it. I got the chance to run a really special throwback last year with Ricky Hendrick’s car and now this year, running Jeff Gordon’s car is really cool. Growing up as a kid watching Jeff in that car, there are a lot of memories there and some similarities in our age and how we started, so hopefully I can carry that on. It will always be something I can look back on from my rookie year and be proud of. It’s really neat, and Sam Bass did a great job with the car.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S 50 YEARS OF BIG MAC CAMARO ZL1 – 22ND IN STANDINGS
“It has been pretty cool over the last few years to go to Darlington and see some of the throwback stuff that teams have done. We have the opportunity this year to showcase a McDonald’s design going back to the 50th Anniversary of NASCAR in 1998. This year McDonald’s is celebrating 50 years of the Big Mac, so we will have that on the car with the overall throwback design from 1998. On the competition side of things this weekend, it is always fun to race at Darlington. This track is super challenging. The turns at both ends of the track are so different at the tires wear out so fast during a run, that it is really important to try and find the balance between being fast and saving your stuff through a long run.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 BUSH’S BEANS CAMARO ZL1 – 23RD IN STANDINGS
“Darlington (Raceway) is just one of those awesome racetracks. It’s so different from anywhere else we go, and a ‘Darlington stripe’ is almost inevitable. When you talk about the throwback weekend with all the new paint schemes, Darlington is probably the best place to do it because besides racing your competitors, you’re racing the racetrack more than anything. You’re trying to make sure that you have something there at the end of the race. The bodies we have on our Camaro ZL1 now are so good and safe, you can almost hit the wall more than it seems reasonable. Which helps there, because it’s not the end of your day if you get into the wall and bounce back into the race. The outside groove is definitely coming in more. I’d say the grip level is increasing throughout the years out in the high groove. It’s an old track, and it’s getting back to an older Darlington feel.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – 24TH IN STANDINGS
“Just like the nickname, it’s too tough to tame. The track is extremely tough to race at itself, and not to mention racing at it with more than 30 other drivers around you. It’s really difficult to leave there without the traditional ‘Darlington stripe’. It’s one of those special racetracks because of all of the history behind it, so I really enjoy racing there even with how tough it is to navigate around. I’m looking forward to having a great weekend with Kroger on board, and having Robert at the race and Coleman able to spot a car that looks like his dad’s.”

DARRELL ‘BUBBA’ WALLACE, NO. 43 STP CAMARO ZL1 – 26TH IN STANDINGS
“This is my first Cup throwback weekend, and it’s cool to have our STP Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 decked out in Petty Blue. We are going back to the first race in 1972 with STP, the car that Richard raced at Riverside with STP on it. It’s a cool scheme, just seeing all that Petty Blue. I’ve been thinking about what I can do for the throwback weekend, myself. I have some ideas, but we’ll wait and see. It’s just a great weekend for the sport. The Southern 500 at Darlington is one of the biggest events in our sport, and then to have all the throwback schemes, it just makes it even more cool. I’m looking forward to it.”

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 95 DUMONT JETS CAMARO ZL1 – 27TH IN STANDINGS
“My favorite part of the weekend at Darlington is the race itself. I think just trying to run 500 miles against the wall there, without any mistakes, makes for a challenging race. There’s a lot that goes in to being fast at Darlington and having a chance to be there at the end of that race, and to me, it’s one of our toughest races of the year. Darlington can also be one of the most enjoyable races too though, and of course if you finish it and gave it everything you had, it feels pretty good to be able to finish 500 miles at that track. If you get a “Darlington stripe” during the weekend, I always feel like it’s because you made a mistake. Getting a stripe can happen so easily there that it’s something you regret as soon as you do it, and you wish that you wouldn’t have lost that touch of focus.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – 29TH IN STANDINGS
“I love going to Darlington. I fall more and more in love with it each time that we go back. You have to take care of your equipment when you’re there, and I enjoy that style and mentality of racing. It’s one of the few old-school races that we have left in that sense. I always circle Darlington on my calendar at the start of each season. I’m even more excited to go down there this year because of our throwback paint scheme. We are honoring 10 years of Cup Series partnership between Germain Racing and GEICO with the original paint scheme that they ran together in 2009. Max Papis and Casey Mears drove this scheme before me, and I’m excited to add my name to the list.”