Category Archives: Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Phoenix–Qualifying

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified Fourth
THOUGHTS ON THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCESS?
“There were points in time where it is extremely chaotic especially after a caution and when the track first opens when you have all the race cars.  A couple of cautions could really create an issue for people, but we just had one today.  Everybody was able to get out and get their laps and the track opened back up towards the end of that opening session.  Then with 12 on the track it’s pretty easy.  It’s easy to find a hole.  Very good performance for us.  We had a challenging day had to work through a lot of different things with this new rules package, still not completely happy, but definitely on the right track.  Starting p. 4 is awfully good.”
 
DID YOU LEARN THINGS THAT YOU WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?
“The way we managed the qualifying session I think Chad (Knaus, crew chief) did an awesome job setting that up.  Our practice session before hand we didn’t have the practice that we had hoped to of had and left some speed on the table there.  As far as the qualifying session itself I think we definitely be smarter next time, but we didn’t leave much behind here.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON SLOW CARS ON THE TRACK COOLING DOWN?
“The only option is to let us have cool down units.  I’m not sure they are open minded to that.  I didn’t know if anybody was held up it seemed like there was a pretty quiet period and a lot of guys were cooling down to make a second run later.  I’m not sure it was a big issue today.”
 
HOW IS THAT GOING TO PLAY OUT AT A SHORTER TRACK?
“That is what we have been jumping up and down about for a while.  It’s the same for everyone and NASCAR we all understand what NASCAR is trying to do.  I’m confident if there is a problem they will make some changes.  Today went better than I expected to be honest.  That first five minutes was what I expected the entire time, but it finally did calm down and we did get some order out there on the track and were able to run some laps.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – Qualified Fifth
HOW DO YOU ASSESS THIS ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU WERE THE FASTEST IN PRACTICE:
“We didn’t know how that lap happened in practice because we were about 10th or so just inside the top 10 maybe in race trim.  That lap in practice was a bit of a surprise to us.  But we went into qualifying and we ran our first run and we were 24th and worried a little bit.  We did everything we could to get the temperature out of the motor so we could run again and we were able to put up a good lap somehow to get into the top 12.  Made a couple of adjustments and were able to get a good lap in the second segment to run a fifth place lap.  Real happy, I would have liked to have gotten the pole.  I felt like that we’ve got a good car and have got some good speed.  As far as the format I thought it was pretty interesting.  I think it was fun. I think the teams enjoyed it.  My team commented that they all really enjoyed the process.  I don’t know how it played out on TV or how it came across in the broadcast, but I thought it was pretty fun to be involved in it.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 11th
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCESS?
“We ended up 11th so we didn’t really qualify that well.  I wish we could have done better in that second round.  I just made two runs and kind of went on to the second one after my first run.  We weren’t very fast the second time out.  The car was just a little bit tight, but I felt really good in practice so I’m looking forward to the race and maybe more practice tomorrow it just kind of depends on weather.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 13th
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“We didn’t make any qualifying runs so we just kind of missed the balance of the car on the first run out on the race track.  Got it a lot better for the second run even with everything heated up, but we just, we wanted to concentrate on race stuff and feel really good about our race stuff.  We just kind of I think waited just a touch too long and never really got a run in during practice.”
 
WHAT IS IT LIKE GOING AROUND COOLING THE CAR OFF AND NOT BEING UP TO SPEED?
“The cooling is dumb.  They needed to let everybody cool the cars down so you don’t have those cars running half speed out there.  We have been telling them that for weeks.  The concept is really cool, but they need to let you cool the cars down and that way you don’t have to have all those cars running around at half speed.  One of these times somebody is going to get clobbered in the back.  The concept is awesome, I like the pace of qualifying, but they need to let us cool them down so we don’t have the cars out there running around at half speed.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 17th
NOW THAT THE FIRST QUALIFYING OF THE NEW FORMAT IS OVER, WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS?
“I think it’s awesome. I love it. It didn’t go very well for us. We were just real tight ever since we put the car in qualifying trim. We didn’t get enough of it out there and drew a late number. A lot of guys got that cloud early on that we weren’t able to get. The biggest thing for us is that it’s all learning as we go through this. We have to figure out a way to cool the cars. You shouldn’t have to go ride around the track and try to cool it. You shouldn’t have to sit there with the engine fan on because it just doesn’t do the job. All we need is a way to cool the engines and we’ll go out there and make multiple runs and continue to make adjustments to try and improve the lap time. Unfortunately we had to sit there and try to get it cooled down to make one last attempt at it. We just didn’t quite free the car up enough. I needed one more run to free it up and I think we would have had a shot of getting in. What’s interesting about it is playing the clouds and trying to get a clean lap. I kind of expected those things. They are all really fascinating elements to this.”
 
ON HIS RUN:
“We drew a late number, so we weren’t able to go out early and catch that cloud like some guys, but we were just too tight. The cool down thing, they need to adjust that. To just sit there on pit road and run your fan and not getting any cool down. The only thing is eliminating us from going out and making more runs at it is the temperature of the engine. So, that’s what we knew would happen is that we’d go through it and we’d all learn. And so, I think it’s exciting, though. I think it’s very, very cool. It certainly was intense for us, the competitors out there, and it’s only going to get more intense for the guys who made it in the top 12. It obviously wasn’t easy to do. Some guys did a great job. We just didn’t do a good job today getting our car balanced for qualifying, but I have a lot of confidence in our Pepsi MAX Chevrolet for Sunday.”
 
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 18TH
“It seemed like a lot of guys went out early and it was pretty jumbled-up. So when we went out, we actually got a clear nice gap. That’s part of the name of the game in group qualifying obviously, there are so many people out there with different agendas that you’ve got to try to get a clean lap, first of all. And it worked out well for us. The GEICO Chevy was fast. We went out actually, to make a second run; and we had a lap that was clearly a lot better going, that probably could have put us in the top 12, and we got held up by the No. 77 (Dave Blaney). I don
’t know what happened there. We didn’t get through (Turns) 2 and 4 with him. But am excited about it. It’s good for us. I’m looking forward to Sunday.”
 
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 24th
HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT?
“I don’t know how interesting it was for the fans but for me, I think we have a lot to learn about it and be patient. You have clouds that come and go, and everyone is fighting for that position. There were people cooling their cars around on the bottom, and I was one of those. There is just a lot to learn. It’s just new. If you can get a clean hole, it helps.”
 
WHAT WERE YOU ABLE TO LEARN GOOD OR BAD FOR NEXT WEEK?
“You have to take it when you can – when you get the right time on the track. It’s interesting the difference between regular qualifying and this. There are a lot of things you have to take in account but there will be some tracks where only one lap matters anyway. It’s a waiting game or go and take your chances.  It’s tough. We might have been a little overanxious because we had a good car in practice. We just missed qualifying a little bit.
 
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 CLOROX FRAGANZIA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 25th
THOUGHTS ON THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT:
“It really doesn’t matter to me honestly.  It’s still qualifying.  It’s cool.  There is a lot of strategy that goes into it.  I don’t know if they are going to do something about cars running around slow like that.  It’s kind of the box that you are put in trying to cool down the motor.  But at the same point it’s obviously not good out there if you get in somebody’s way.  That was I would say the only thing that has got me question.  It was cool.  It’s better than single car.  Hopefully the fans enjoy it because it kind of opens up the question of who is going to make it in.  There is obviously like (Dale Earnhardt) Junior and guys that were out that got themselves in on a second or third run.  It’s alright.  We just need to be better overall.  I’m just not happy with our day.  We struggled a little bit.  It’s part of growing.  I want to come out here and be amazing right away, but it’s part of growing.  We will keep working on it.”
 
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 27th
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURE? WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE CARS GOING AROUND AT HALF SPEED TO COOL THE CARS DOWN?
“I don’t know.  I didn’t think that we would be allowed to do that.  It’s like during a race you have a minimum speed so you should have to have some sort of minimum speed.  Just because you don’t ever want to be on a run and have some guy pulling out in front of you going 50 mph it’s dangerous.  I don’t know.  I’m not the good person to ask today because we had a really good car in practice and it was absolutely horrendous there. I have no idea what happened.  I’m not sure what we did, but it’s pretty disappointing.  I thought we had a shot at the pole today and we are like 27th so it’s pretty disappointing.”
 
JUSTIN ALLGAIER, NO. 51 BRANDT AGRICULTURE CHEVROLET SS – Involved in a crash during the first qualifying session and will start Sunday’s race at Phoenix International Raceway 43rd
 WHAT HAPPENED?
“I tried to save it as much as I could, but unfortunately here at Phoenix, there’s not a whole lot of room to get out of trouble. It was my mistake; just trying to get too much on the lap there. I hate it for these guys. Everybody on this racing crew does a great job. So, we’ll get the back-up out and we can get it fixed and go; we’ll see what happens.

Chevy Racing–Phoenix–Tony Stewart

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed how he feels, gaining chemistry with his new crew chief and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
KEVIN HARVICK WAS IMPRESSED ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU LISTEN AS AN OWNER.  IS THAT SOMETHING THAT HAS EVOLVED OVER TIME FOR YOU WITH ALL YOUR DIFFERENT RACING INTERESTS?
“I don’t know, probably, you’ve got to listen to the guys that are driving for you the same as the driver.  You have to relay that information to somebody.  From an owners standpoint you’ve got to spend more time listening and then acting on it.”
 
YOU GOT THROUGH ALL OF SPEEDWEEKS HOW DID YOU FEEL THIS WEEK?
“I’ll be honest, I’ll be more happy when everybody quits asking me how I feel.  I’m not 100 percent.  I’m not going to be 100 percent for a while.  It was fine.  There wasn’t any drama, same as we said for the shootout, same as we said for the qualifying race and same as we said after the (Daytona) 500.  I appreciate everybody checking on me, but it’s not going to change in a week.  It wasn’t a big drama, everything is fine.  Everything is fine in the car this week so far.  Hopefully, we will be able to talk a year from now about how far we have come.”
 
IN REGARDS TO CHAD JOHNSTON BEING BACK AFTER HAVING APPENDICITIS LAST WEEK:
“Yeah getting operated on.  I thought he did a pretty good job last week.  This week we are back to kind of the weekly side of it now.  I thought he did a really good job of fighting through the pain, getting operated on and being back at the track.”
 
IN REGARDS TO HIS NEW CREW CHIEF AND GAINING CHEMISTRY:
“I wish it was that easy to pick a number.  You have been doing this long enough that you know it can be weeks, it can be years.  You can’t sit there and say it’s going to take this long.  It never has been that way and never will be.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS THE EXTRA FOUR HOURS OF TESTING NEXT WEEK IN LAS VEGAS:
“Yeah I will take all the time I can get right now.  Those four hours at a race weekend is going to be big.  That is going to be a valuable four hours for us.”
 
IF PRACTICE GETS RAINED OUT TOMORROW WHAT AFFECT WILL THAT HAVE IF ANY ON SUNDAY?
“I don’t know.  You guys are asking stuff we don’t know about. We got an hour and a half of practice.  If it is it’s going to be like whatever we had at the end of practice.  I just don’t know.  ”
 
IS THE CAR GOING TO BE DIFFERENT THAN LAST YEAR?
“Of course it’s different than last year.  It’s a whole different package than last year of course it feels different.  We haven’t been in a race situation yet.  We ran an hour and a half of practice, which half of that you spend in qualifying trim.”
 
 

Chevy Racing–Phoenix–Jeff Gordon

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway, and discussed the new Pepsi Max video, new qualifying format and other topics. Full transcript:
 
WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT THE NEW TEST DRIVE VIDEO THAT PEPSI RELEASED?
“It’s been a fun week coming off the Daytona 500 finish and then knowing that Pepsi was going to be releasing this video.  I’m so proud of them for believing in us and taking risk to step outside the boundaries and what they call maxing it out and they definitely did.  It was a lot of fun, but it was nerve wracking because we had one take to do that and pull it off.  There was a lot involved, but the results are really, really good.  Having fun with it this week and can’t wait to get this race started this week, especially qualifying today.  I’ve been looking forward to that for a long time.”
 
WHEN DID YOU GO TO ACTING SCHOOL?  DID YOU HAVE FUN PLAYING THE CONVICT AND WERE YOU WORRIED AT ALL THAT THE GUY WAS GOING TO GO CRAZY?
“I like good editing because they can make me look as good as I can look.  The acting was pretty poor if you look at it from my standpoint, but when you get into makeup like that and they put this disguise on you and the tattoo and the outfit and everything, you start to get comfortable in it once you’re in it long enough.  Right before I picked up Travis we basically went through one run of how everything was going to go hopefully, there’s a lot of things you can’t prepare for.  You start to try to get into that character.  I’m no actor, but I did the best I could and luckily the disguise helped me pull it off.  You have to understand, this thing was like eight months in the making.  After the first test drive was so popular then Pepsi Max came to me and said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in doing this again?’  I said, ‘Yeah, but I want to do all the driving.’  I think it’s known that we had to have a stunt driver for timing purposes in the first one and I would love to do this thing as the driver throughout the whole thing.  Obviously coordinating that and figuring out who we were going to get in the car and how we were going to do it, it really started out as a fan promotion.  We were just going to get fans in the car and not necessarily prank them in this case, but just give them a really cool ride.  It started materializing and coming together.
 
“Safety was the first thing on the list of concerns.  Making sure that we did this with all safety precautions.  Making sure that he didn’t recognize who I was and we went through Jalopnik to get Travis there.  If they hadn’t have been a part of it, this thing would have never happened.  When I look at it, how we pulled this off is near impossible and the fact that we were able to pull it off and at the end of the day Travis had a big smile on his face finally was what made it so extraordinary.  It was an adrenaline rush for me.  An hour later I felt like I had just won the Daytona 500.  Just that kind of feeling you get when you’re in that kind of a situation.  We had a safe word, which was Nebraska.  I didn’t come up with it.  They said, here’s the word.  I had an earpiece where I could hear the crew talking, they could hear us and see video live of what was going on inside the car and so there was that moment that if it got to that point we called that word and it all stopped and when I first took off and I hit about 80 miles per hour and he started kicking that glass, I came this close.  You don’t know what that situation is going to be like until you have that person in the back of the car that is really scared.  I just knew that it’s all going to be over very quick and luckily when I opened that door and saw that smile on his face, it made it all worth it.”
 
HOW DO YOU THINK QUALIFYING WILL UNFOLD TODAY?
“That’s the whole question and I don’t really have an answer for it because we have to go through it a few times, not just today.  It’s going to change week to week based on the grip level of the tires, the size of the track and all those things.  I’m excited about the concept and I’m excited about how it is going to be so much different and I think it’s going to create a lot more interest in qualifying, but it’s the unknowns that we fear the most right now.  I think for that first session it’s going to be about getting a clean lap.  The ability to have a lot of cars out there trying to make laps, it’s kind of going to be like practice making qualifying runs except for everybody is in qualifying trim.  Usually we swap over and guys maybe do their qualifying runs at the beginning, some do it at the end and to have everybody trying to do it all at once is going to be tricky.  Coordination between the spotter and the driver and the crew of making that first clean run, I think really two or three laps seems to be best here with sticker tires and pressures up, but you’re definitely going to be able to make a second run if need be.  The bigger challenge there comes with cooling.  We have no way of cooling the car other than pulling the tape off and going out and driving around with no tape on, which I think that is going to be tough to pull off.  That’s going to be something that we’re all going to try to figure out.  It should be exciting.”
 
DO THE TEAMS KNOW WHAT THEY ALL HAVE WITH THE NEW AERO PACKAGE?
“All I can tell you is what testing that we’ve done this has improved grip.  There’s challenges as far as trying to figure out the travels and the splitter heights and those types of things.  Everything I’m seeing, it complements the car, the track, the tire, the downforce is just making the cars drive better so we should be able to just push the limits a little bit harder, be more aggressive.  What that’s going to do around in traffic, that’s yet to be seen.  I always think of this place, especially double file restarts, you should have more grip to be able to play with in general, but the same things are going to apply as you get further back in the field you’re going to have less grip from an aero standpoint.  Should still be better because that splitter is lower, you don’t get as much ability of the air to get up underneath it.”
 
HOW MANY LAWYERS HAD TO APPROVE THE VIDEO AND HOW DID IT GET DONE?
“That’s why this was an eight month process and why I applaud Pepsi so much in stepping outside those boundaries to be that risky.  Sometimes you have to take risk in order for it to pay off and luckily in this case it paid off.  The coordination of getting Travis there without knowing what was going to happen, but yet also taking into account liability and waivers and all those things, obviously we still had to get his final signature at the end, but we had everything else in place with Pepsi Max.  Again, to just get it to that stage is impressive enough.  To actually then get Travis in the car, create this conversation that we didn’t know how that was going to go to try to set it up with me saying I’m an ex-con and just got out of jail with a guy from Jersey and some of that stuff, that all just creates the storyline.  You can’t make that stuff up.  You can plan, you can do certain things, but you can’t plan for the unknown.  That’s why there was such an adrenaline rush with it and the fact that I knew I had this guy’s safety in my hands.  I put a lot of pride into making sure that it was done safe and so did Pepsi Max.  I don’t know if you’ll ever see this done again, I’ll be honest, because it was that risky.  We did it and we can now laugh and Travis can laugh
about it and we can all enjoy the risk that paid off.”
 
WHY DID YOU WANT TO DO THIS?
“I like stepping outside the boundaries.  I think that when it’s something like this.  We did the first video and when you look at all the comments from the first video, I think that it was really the bloggers, the media, the fans, it was everybody really challenging us to go and do this because of their comments of saying, ‘Hey, Jeff wasn’t driving the car or this or that wasn’t real.’  Guess what, here’s the results of that because we wanted to go out there and show everybody how authentic and how real this can be.  Why would we do that?  It’s a good question, but I can tell you it was a blast doing it and I think the response that it’s getting certainly speaks for itself.  I was questioning that a few times myself during it so I know people are going to question that, but after it was over and we came sliding in, I was like, wow, that was the most incredible thing that I’ve ever done.”
 
WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT JR. THIS WEEK NOW THAT HE HAS JOINED TWITTER?
“I think we all knew that once he got on it that he would probably enjoy it.  It looks like he’s enjoying it.  I’ve never seen the guy with a permanent smile on his face like this before.  To see how much it means to him to win that race, to be on top of the sport like he is and it be just genuinely comfortable with himself and confident, that’s very, very cool.  That to me, that’s great for the sport, it’s great for him, great for Hendrick.  We’ve all had smiles on our faces and enjoying this week right along with him.  Seeing him on Twitter is something that a lot of us have been pushing him towards, ‘C’mon man, you can do it.’  I think winning the Daytona 500 is a great way to get that kick started so I applaud him on that.  He’s done a great job this week.”
 
HOW DOES BEING LOCKED IN THE CHASE CHANGE HOW DALE EARNHARDT JR. CAN APPROACH THE NEXT 25 WEEKS?
“There’s no doubt, this sport is so much about confidence and believing in one another.  We’ve all said that one race doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything, but boy with the new points system it certainly guarantees a lot.  That allows you to continue to build that confidence and just push the envelope of your setups, your pit strategy, how you’re driving and with the kind of confidence he has coming from last year and now off of this race, you would think that will transfer over to the next several races.  Now we get to the downforce tracks and if those guys perform well on these next few tracks, watch out.  I think anything is possible.”
 
HOW WILL YOU APPROACH QUALIFYING CONCERNING THE ENGINES?
“We’re going to have to go through this for a few weeks and I don’t mean just the teams but NASCAR as well to try to understand what challenges come along.  I don’t think we should be nosed in to start the qualifying session.  I think we should be nosed out.  After that, I understand the nose in.  The other thing is the cooling.  There are safety precautions that they are wanting to take and that’s why we’re not cooling the cars and the number of people on pit road and all those things, but if we want to keep in mind the longevity and reliability of the engines and keeping the highest performance, if we want to go out and make multiple runs then we have to cool those engines down.  That’s how we make qualifying runs and you have to run the most tape you possibly can on the front of the car.  Going out there and making a second run on older tires with less tape is not going to improve your time.  I think that’s something that as we get through we’re all going to be communicating with NASCAR to try to figure out what’s going to be the best way for the teams to go out there and get the best lap as well as keep it as entertaining as possible.”
 
HOW GOOD DID IT FEEL TO GET A TOP-FIVE FINISH AT DAYTONA?
“It felt amazing.  It seems like not just in the 500, but in the 400 as well it’s just been so long since we’ve been able to be in position at the end to have a chance at it.  Especially the way that race went down, it was a crazy race after the rain.  It was like a 10-lap shootout.  Just every single lap three wide, bump drafting and the fact that we survived those wrecks and had a strong car and to come out of there with a top-five, I’m still not sure and haven’t seen the video of why we’re not third.  I’m also still accepting of fourth because of what we’ve done the last nine years by not only having a top-five, but like a top-15.  It’s been really hard to get our season started with any momentum after coming out of Daytona so far behind.  That’s a great way for us to get started.  I can just see a difference in the team.  The team is really pumped up and excited to go to these next several races and show what we can do.”
 
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES IN PRACTICE KNOWING TOMORROW IS LOOKING TO BE A RAIN OUT?
“I agree and it is just taking what is already a challenging day trying to get prepared for this new qualifying session and taking it to a whole other level for all of us, but especially the crew chiefs and engineers.  We’re going to try to balance out that track time of preparing for this race, we’re going to have to go off of old notes.  We always say that, but the ride heights have changed and a lot of things have changed with the setup so I’m not sure.  I know that there will just be a time when we swap over.  Really in a perfect world you would actually want to wait and get as much rubber on the track as possible to get ready for the race.  That’s why we love Saturday practices.  Today because we have to get ready for qualifying and track position being so important at this track, qualifying is extremely important.  In some ways, it’s going to prioritize itself over the race practice or portion of the practice.  Not everybody might play it that way and that’s what I love about this.  It really makes you think about your strategy and how you’re going to go about managing the time that you have.  Again, we learn as we go.  We might find a team does it one way that we didn’t think of it that way, wow, that’s really smart and in the future we might do it that way.”
 
HOW MUCH GAMESMANSHIP IS ALLOWABLE IN THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT AND WHERE IS THE LINE?
“I think that gamesmanship when it comes to qualifying is about one-upping one another with a lap time not about blocking or doing something that is trying to hurt somebody else’s laps.  I don’t know if that’s what you mean from gamesmanship.  In my opinion, that’s not tolerated at all, but as I clearly read in NASCAR’s notes or memo, it looks like we’re going to take care of that ourselves.  We’ll see how that works.  It seems to work pretty well when they allow us to take care of it ourselves.  Usually doesn’t happen more than once.  That is definitely going to be a play here today not necessarily people intentionally doing it, people not being able to prevent it.  That’s my concern.  After you finish your lap, there could be somebody coming behind you and if you just mosey on around one and two and through the dog leg and don’t get off the track, that’s to me a gray area in NASCAR’s mind and not so gray if I’m the guy behind.  That person should know well enough to watch his mirrors, work with his spotter or her to get off the track and allow those cars to get their clean lap.  I don’t anticipate somebody playing that offense and defense on this track, maybe at Talladega or Daytona I could see that from a drafting standpoint, but here it should be just about respecting your competitors.”
 
DID HENDRICK PRACTICE THE NEW QUALIFYING ANYWHERE?

It’s not like we’re just going blind and saying, ‘We’ll just wait and see what happens.’  No, we can’t simulate that because we don’t have 43 cars or more at a track to test and go through that.  There’s a lot of simulation that we’ve gone into with cooling and understanding the amount of tape that we can run.  We’ve gone through a lot with this tire at this particular track and when we think it’s going to be at its best optimal pressure and temperature, but we can’t really control what the other cars are doing.  That’s the factor that comes into play that is going to be so interesting and that we’re going to just have to see what happens as we go.  We can’t simulate that even at a test.  We did not do that.”

Chevy Racing–Phoenix–Dale Earnhardt Jr.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed his whirlwind week following his Daytona 500 victory, his thoughts on the new qualifying format, what he has learned about being on Twitter and many other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
GIVE US A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM YOUR WEEK THIS WEEK AND ABOUT COMING INTO PHOENIX:
“NASCAR did a real good job of structuring out the tour.  I don’t really remember much about what we did in 2004, but this was a lot of fun doing (David) Letterman was really exciting.  Going to FOX studios and what we did there was a lot of fun and work at ESPN was fun.  Every stop was enjoyable and I enjoyed talking about the win and talking about our experiences and sharing that with the fans.  It’s been a great week.  Got a lot of rest and we are ready to go here in Phoenix.  Kind of everything resets and goes back to zero.  We will try to run as well as we can this weekend, get a good result and go from there.”
 
ONE OF THE MOST SURPRISING THINGS THAT WE ALL LEARNED AFTER THE RACE WAS THAT DENNY (HAMLIN) HAD NO SPOTTER FOR ABOUT 150 LAPS ON AND OFF.  WHAT WOULD YOU THINK ABOUT HAVING TO RUN THOSE FINAL TWO LAPS WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO HEAR A RADIO?
“I mean the last two laps probably would have been easy to do it without a spotter, but just running the whole race there are a lot of challenging situations you get yourself into.  There are times when you need to be cleared when you are not sure.  For the most part as a race car driver you know where every car is around you, probably 60-70 percent of the time you make moves just on your own instinct and understanding of where cars around you without a spotter. But there is that 30 percent when you don’t know where the cars are around you and you need to move into another lane, you want to and you need your spotter to help you get there.  There are definitely some situations where that was a huge disadvantage for him not to have that spotter helping him when he is trying to march forward and get himself in position and get toward the front in that tight pack.  It’s a huge disadvantage, but toward the front in the top five I couldn’t tell you what TJ (Majors, spotter) said in those last two laps.  I was just going off of what I was seeing and what I was doing.  I was making decisions faster than he could feed me the information at that point in time.”
 
HOW IS TJ?
“TJ is good.  He had some issues with his intestines last year that caused him to miss the Atlanta race.  Some of those issues cropped back up just a small infection.  He is back home now; he is out of the hospital so he is fine. He just hates having to miss it.  He is a huge part of our team.  We have such great chemistry it’s going to be a difficult situation not having him, but we’ve got Bill Elliott of all people is going to fill in during practice.  That is going to be pretty awesome.  A lot of most popular driver awards right there, like 27 or something like that.  Then during the race the guy we had last year is going to fill in.  He did a great job for us last year.  I feel good about the race.  It will be interesting going through knock-out qualifying me and Bill (Elliott) both for the first time.”
 
YOU DIDN’T PACK A BAG, YOU DIDN’T HAVE CLOTHES PACKED FOR THIS WHOLE TOUR, AND CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW YOU GOT OUR CLOTHES? 
“Basically Amy (Reimann, girlfriend) is good friends with this gal Kristin (Heinrich) that works in Charlotte and has helped me a few times.  Amy works with her on when we need to go to special events and I need to get a sports coat or something.  So, we just by luck, Kristin was in New York working with Lavender which is the shop that Amy works with in Mooresville.  Amy has like a bit of a part-time job and so just by fate these people were in New York to help us get some clothes.  So on our flight to New York from Daytona Kristin was scrambling trying to put together some things judging by the schedule that I had.  I never had to wear socks twice or wear underwear twice so that was good.  Everything was clean.  Kristin did a great job.  That is one of the perks to having a good, dedicated girlfriend like that.  I don’t know what I would have done without Amy and Kristin at that particular moment.  I definitely wouldn’t have represented myself as well as I did this week.  That was a big help from them.”
 
COULD YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT WE WILL SEE DURING QUALIFYING TODAY?
“I don’t know.  I don’t know what we are going to see.  Do you guys have any idea?  We’ve all been in this sport for a long time and I don’t think any of us can anticipate how that is going to work.  I’m just going to go out there and run the best lap we can run. We are going to get our car prepared.  Your job is to go out there, find a clean place on the race track and run the best lap you can run.  The way the tires work here you can actually run some pretty good laps on some used tires.  You may run several laps then come in and then go out prepare to run your fast lap depending on what the tires need here to come in and be fast.  I don’t know exactly what Steve’s (Letarte) plan is, but we have a lot of time in between practice and qualifying to sort that out and get an idea of what the rumblings are in the garage.  You know people are talking and all kinds of information is moving around in that garage to try to capture.  We will see what makes sense.”
 
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT TOUCHED YOU OVER THE WEEK?  THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS VIDEO, THE FAN VIDEOS?  TODAY IN THE PAPER THERE IS A NATIONWIDE FULL PAGE, WHICH WAS WAY COOL:
“I thought that was great I saw Jeff’s (Gluck) tweet and I was like ‘man that is pretty awesome’.  The fan reaction videos were pretty incredible, that kid crying, when I was doing I think NASCAR Now some ESPN in studio stuff.  Just seeing the reaction for the fans that they get that much joy from it means probably the most.  Definitely hearing from the Redskins is pretty awesome.  Rendezvous ribs from Memphis is going to send me some ribs so that is awesome.  I mean all kinds of things keep happening.  Bill Elliott is going to spot for me.  I don’t know what is going to happen next.  It just keeps going.  That is the only bad part about winning at Daytona is you go to Phoenix and somebody else wins the next race.  Then they are getting the ribs (laughs).  If I can win it I will keep going, but it would be nice if we had an off weekend there where it could keep going because so much great stuff happens to you during this week it’s been great.”
 
COULD YOU ELABORATE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT GOING FORWARD?  WITH THE NEW CHASE RULES AND EVERYTHING.  YOU CAN REALLY SWING FOR THE FENCES THE NEXT 25 RACE.  ARE WE TALKING ABOUT SET-UPS, OR HOW YOU DRIVE, OR WHETHER YOU STAY OUT, OR PIT STRATEGY?
“Definitely set-ups, from what I’ve noticed when a team, especially one of my teammates where I can really see what is going on behind closed doors.  When they get comfortable that they are in the Chase they really start to experiment or try to find things outside of their comfort zone that can help them during the Chase.  We can start thinking about that earlier than most people and that is definitely one area where we can get aggressive.  Steve can get aggressive to a point on pit strategy, but common sense is going to tell you what the best thing is to do to win the race.  It ain’t going to be some kind of wild hair brained idea at the last minute.  What wins races is w
hat we have been doing, what everybody has been doing for years.  You are not going to go too far out of reality to yank out a win.  Or we would have already been doing that for years.  You are not going to stay out there on 100 lap tires and ‘man that is crazy, get a win’  you are not going to do that you are going to get run over.
 
“You might see things in the middle of the race where we might do some strategy where we take two tires more often, instead of four tires to get the track position and see how the car handles up there and see if we can hold it until the next opportunity to put four tires on it.  We might do that more often.  Maybe things earlier in the race to sort of set us up that we probably wouldn’t do if we are trying to get points.  Points aren’t quite as important I guess as wins.  Things might change a little bit.  I’m curious myself really if the racing is going to pick up.  Like we saw the intensity at Daytona sustained over a longer period of time.  Normally people sort of get after it at the end of the race, but we were racing hard for a long time, for the last half of the race.  I’m wondering if that is going to be the norm now.  If the racing is going to be a whole lot more exciting and it’s going to be evident to the viewer and you guys that we are pushing much harder.”
 
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU HAVE DONE IN THE LAST 24 HOURS TO KIND OF GET YOUR MINDSET BACK TO THIS WEEKEND AS OPPOSED TO CELEBRATING THE DAYTONA 500 WIN?
“In my mind we haven’t celebrated yet.  We have been going around and talking about the win, but it’s been real subdued.  We haven’t cut up any.  I won’t get the opportunity to do that until after (Las) Vegas.  If we win Sunday we might have a little fun after that race Sunday night.  Due to the responsibilities to the media and to the media tour things have been very calm really this week.  So haven’t really celebrated the way I like to celebrate.  I look forward to doing that when we get a moment to do that when we get back home I guess.  I haven’t even seen Steve and the team since we left Victory Lane, since we left the media center.  It will be good to get in the garage.  We are still going to be talking and thinking and joking about that win even during this weekend.  But that is not a bad problem to have that is not a bad distraction to have on a race weekend talking about last week.  I feel like I shouldn’t have any problem getting out there on the race track and doing the best I can do.  I’ve been doing this a long time and have had the opportunity to win races and get back the next weekend and do well.  It should be no problem.”
 
THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT LEARNED A LOT ABOUT YOU THIS WEEK. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT TWITTER AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU TO BE ABLE TO KIND OF DISSEMINATE WHATEVER MESSAGE YOU WANTED TO TELL?
“Well I’m still learning.  There are still a lot of questions about how to use the software, how to physically use the software.  There is quite a difference between the iPhone version and iPad version so trying to work between the two, just simple stuff like that.  I mean I never used it before.  I got (Mike) Hoag and Laura (Scott) and them helping me so I don’t look like an idiot.  It’s been fun to interact with the fans.  Doing that Q&A on the way to Austin or wherever we were headed was fun.  That was kind of just a spur of the moment idea and it was enjoyable to be able to plug in like that whenever you feel like it.  Hopefully the fans appreciate that.  I’ve got a lot to learn.  I guess the hard part is there is so much coming at you that you miss a lot of stuff.  There is a lot of great information and a lot of great comments, just trying to read them all.  It’s kind of like reading your fan mail.  Back in ’04, ’03, ’02 Dad’s fan mail room was just piled.  I’m like how do you decipher all that?  How do you get through all that?  It’s just a lot coming at you and you want to take it all in and you don’t want to miss anything.
 
“Like (Mike) Hoag and them will come up to me and be like ‘man such and such tweeted you’. I’m like ‘what?  Where?  What the hell? How did I miss that?  Why am I missing that?’  (Laughs) I’ve got a lot to learn.  But it’s fun, it’s really fun to be able to just say, like we got these new hats today.  Or we got them this year and I am real particular about my hats.  So we were doing some fittings with this new company and I got them all laid out on the table this morning and I was like ‘man which one do I want to wear, this is so awesome’ because normally they say here is your pit cap and it doesn’t fit, you don’t like it and it’s just not good material.  Me and Steve we are particular about it so we cuss it all year long and finally I’m sitting there like ‘man I’ve got all these options and I can tell everybody how awesome it is.’  A guy from MRO (Motor Racing Outreach) brought me that picture of the verse that Stevie (Waltrip) gave me and I know it would make DW’s (Darrel Waltrip) day if I tweeted how much I appreciate that.  Just being able to do that.
 
“I don’t know what I was thinking why I didn’t get on there earlier because it’s a great way to tell people things you appreciate.  It’s instant.  So I’m learning, taking all kinds of advice if anybody wants to give me any advice if I get going in the wrong direction.  Throw back Thursday is pretty cool.  I’ve got a photo stream on my phone that is like 500 old pictures of my Dad and Ralph (Earnhardt) and Jimmy Means.  It’s just a photo stream that I just collect photos that I find.  There are a ton of people on that, but I got throw back Thursday for years.  I’m in good shape there that is going to be fun.”
 
WHERE DOES THIS RANK AMONGST VICTORIES YOU HAVE HAD? HAS THIS BEEN ONE OF THE BEST WEEKS OF YOUR LIFE?
“It’s up there.  It’s definitely up there.  It’s hard to say if it’s the best week.  Winning those two championships in the Nationwide Series was a lot of fun because it lasted longer than a week.  You had the whole off season to celebrate and hell we basically turned it into two years of just nothing but having fun and celebrating wins and running good and trophies and stuff.  That was a great two years.  I was blown away because I had run all those late model races and didn’t really win any.  Here I was Nationwide champion, just like that overnight.  That was an extremely enjoyable time in my life.  But if you said as far as weeks go, yeah this is probably my funniest week if you pack it all into a week.  I wish I could remember everything we did in 2004.  I don’t think it was like this for whatever reason.  Where we are today in social media and where we are today with our network relationships it seems like we were just everywhere all week long doing something.  Everything was interesting and fun.  Normally truth be told drivers complain about being run ragged and taken all over the place to do media.  I would have said that before the race, ‘man I hope I win, but I’m not looking forward to that media tour’, but as soon as I crossed the finish line I was thinking, ‘man I’ve got to go on that media tour that is going to be fun.  I don’t know what flipped the switch, but I looked forward to it as soon as we crossed the finish line I was looking forward to everything we had to do this week.  It was fun.  I had a great team with me.  (Mike) Hoag and Laura (Scott), Amy helping as much as she could, made it really easy and fun.  We enjoyed it.”
 

Chevy Racing–Phoenix–Ryan Newman

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed the new qualifying procedure, testing at Las Vegas, and more. Full Transcript:
 
ON THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURE
“I think to me, qualifying is going to be a lot like how we practice qualify. So you’re going to be waiting in line to do your thing. But then, at that point, it’s still open. So you don’t have the opportunity to work on your car so much. You have to kind of come back to pit road and start it all over again depending on how you qualify or how you run. I hope that we don’t have a lapse in time on the race track or at different race tracks for different reasons. Ultimately I think we’re still going to have a pole winner; now the team is more incorporated with the things that are going on and the adjustments that you make. The spotter has a job with respect to qualifying that he never had before. But I think it all adds up to a team qualifying event more so than just a driver versus a race track qualifying format.”
 
LOOKING AHEAD, WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING ON THE 1.5-MILE TRACKS AS WE GO TO LAS VEGAS?
“We’ve done a little bit of testing between Charlotte and Nashville and tracks like that and so I think that Vegas that Thursday is going to be extremely important; especially not knowing what the weather is going to be like out there. We seem to be pulling rain wherever we go. But, just getting a good vibe for what is our backbone core of racing on the 1.5-mile race tracks is going to be important for everybody at Vegas.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS AN EXTRA FOUR HOURS OF TESTING AT LAS VEGAS?
‘I think it’s important. I think it’s important to know how your car is and how comfortable you are as a driver. It kind of gives you a different perspective on how you need to unload the race car on Friday; if you need to spend more time in race trim or in qualifying trim. That extra little bit of laps is good for giving you a heads-up. But I really wish we didn’t have it. I wish Friday practice and qualifying.”
 
WHY IS THAT?
“It’s just a waste of time for all of us. It’s extra effort, extra money, extra everything for all of us. It’s not going to change the way that we race on Sunday.”
 
WERE YOU SHOCKED THAT DALE EARNHARDT JR. LIVED UP TO HIS PROMISE AND GOT ON TWITTER?
“No, I don’t know so much about any of that. I was happy for him for winning that race. It’s a special race, having won it before. I texted him after the race and it was cool to get a response within the next day or so because I know how busy you are on your phone after an event like that. It was good to see him win.”
 
WITH RAIN LIKELY, WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES IN PREPARING FOR THE RACE?
“I think ultimately the difference now between racing and qualifying really is more so of adding the tape to the grill and a little bit of balance changing. We’ve got pretty good data on this Gen-6 car with that. We’re going to spend a good amount of time; I think everybody will, because of the rain, in race trim. And having that good race trim package will ease your mind a little bit. Hopefully we can have a good qualifying effort as well.”
 
BECAUSE OF THE RULES CHANGES, YOU CAN’T REALLY GO BACK TO THE OLD NOTES AS MUCH?
“No, there’s a lot of things you can go back to. You’re still putting shoes on to walk (laughs). There are a lot of things that have changed, but ultimately your race car, the body, the drivetrain, and everything else is the same. It’s just kind of how we work the aerodynamics in the changes with the tape versus the temperature versus the balance in where you are in your qualifying run.”
 
DID YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO TALK TO AUSTIN DILLON AFTER LAST WEEK?
“We texted. I know there was nothing intentional. It was just a poor outcome for us. We were really excited. I sat in the back and waited all race long to show my stuff. I really waited all week long to show my stuff and got caught up in one accident there when he turned the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) around and got rear-ended by my other teammate. And then we got the car somewhat fixed after that and had a really fast car in the Caterpillar Chevrolet and just got checked-up going into (Turn) 3 and I missed the No. 1 (Jamie McMurray) car but Austin didn’t miss me. I know it was unintentional. It just kind of sucked for the organization.”
 
WHAT’S THAT LIKE IN COMING OVER TO A NEW ORGANIZATION?
“That’s just a product of that type of racing. That’s the way it is. We know that type of racing is different than what we’re going to have here (Phoenix) and in Vegas. It is what it is and it was what it was.”
 
ON THE QUALIFYING FORMAT, IS NEXT WEEK MORE CHALLENGING?
“I don’t know. I don’t have any idea what the difference is going to be between two sessions versus three and how that’s going to open up the race track with a less number of cars. You still have less time, so you really don’t have the opportunity to do multiple runs because you have less time. Again, I don’t want to get to the point where we have 20 minutes and 12 cars and we’re just sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting for somebody to make a run. That’s not good TV.”
 

Chevy Racing–Jimmie Johnson–Phoenix

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, DRIVER OF THE NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, met with media today at Phoenix International Raceway to discuss being back at PIR, differences in setup from last year’s race here, his influence on Dale Earnhardt Jr., and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT BEING BACK AT PHOENIX CONSIDERING YOUR SUCCESS HERE.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: It’s always great to be back at a track where you and a team have had so much success. With the reconfiguration of this track, it’s been hit or miss for us. When we were here in November, it was really good for us especially from the championship perspective. To come back now, there is definitely excitement and confidence. The cars are far different than when we were here in November. This will be the first real test on which team and organization has found speed in their cars and been able to use the new rules package to their advantage. We feel good about what we have. We tested quite a bit to get ready for this moment. We will know more about 30-40 minutes into the practice about where we stand.”
 
I’M CURIOUS TO SEE HOW YOUR TESTING STRATEGY MIGHT CHANGE WITH THE NEW FORMAT FOR THE CHASE THIS YEAR.
“Ideally if all four (Hendrick) drivers win a race, we can just sit on our test sessions and know that we are in that first block. That’s really the objective I think for all the teams. We will have to see. We have tested a lot at tracks where we don’t compete at, and you learn so much more when you come to a track that you compete at. Next weekend in Las Vegas will be big for all of the teams in the garage area to have an extra day on the race track – getting data and figuring some stuff out. So yes, ideally let’s save our test sessions until the deep in the Chase if we can. If we’re behind, we’ll have to burn some of those sessions to catch up.”
 
IT WAS SO EXCITING TO TALK TO EVERYONE AFTER THE RACE LAST WEEK. THEY WERE ALL UP ON THE WHEEL AND EYES SORT OF GLEAMING. IS THAT A RESULT OF THE WEATHER AND DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE SOME OF THAT AS WELL WITH SOME OF THE NEW FORMAT? OR WAS IT BECAUSE IT WAS THE DAYTONA 500?
“The possibility of rain coming and shortening the race really did it. We saw before the rain came that we were single-file against the wall just riding. Most don’t want to do that. I think the top five were content riding. Everyone else wanted to be in the top five, and then they would be content. There are guys who would try to move to the inside lane and get something going down there but it would never materialize. Then with the long delay and the threat of rain out there, we were two- or three-wide the rest of the night and put on a great show.”
 
INAUDABLE.
“Yeah, the first 10 laps after a restart here are exciting. This is one of the craziest tracks, I feel, from a restart perspective. You have the dogleg on the back where you can find yourself four-wide through the center of the backstretch and hope you have it sorted by Turn 3. If we have cautions – and cautions usually breed cautions – it will be exciting for sure.”
 
SPEAKING OF RAIN COMING, HOW WILL THAT CHANGE THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND? HOW WILL IT SHAKE OUT ON SUNDAY?
“We showed up in qualifying trim, and with the threat of rain we switched over to race trim. We will open up the first 30-40 minutes in race trim and then flip over. It would be nice to have all of the practice tomorrow because everything is so new right now. That would be the biggest impact – less track time to work through our setups. It puts a little more pressure on us today to make it right.”
 
DO YOU HAVE ANY WAY – BEFORE GOING ON TRACK TODAY – OF KNOWING WHERE HENDRICK MATCHES UP WITH OTHER TEAMS WITH THE SETUPS SO RADICALLY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THEY WERE LAST YEAR?
“Not really. There have been so many teams at the Nashville race track running that we kind of feel like we’re good based on what we saw from other organizations there. But I still don’t have a lot of confidence in that. I think within the first 30-40 minutes we will have a very good idea once practice starts.”
 
RICK HENDRICK LAUDED YOUR INFLUENCE ON JUNIOR OVER THE LAST FOUR TO FIVE YEARS. JUNIOR ALSO HAS TALKED ABOUT HOW YOU MOTIVATED HIM AND HELPED HIM WHEN THINGS ARE BAD. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO HIM AND WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK YOU PLAYED IN HIS COMEBACK THE LAST FEW YEARS?
“You know, with Junior I always just kind of reached out to him and let him know I was there if he wanted to talk about race cars, the team or really anything for that matter. With his personality, if you’re in his face a lot or telling him what you think or almost preaching to him – telling him what he should do – it’s not going to work out. In some ways, I’ve tried to lead by example and just do my thing. He is a very, very observant guy – especially with what goes on in our shop. That’s taken me awhile to pick up and understand; how much he pays attention to what I do, how I drive my car, the things I’m interested in, things I focus on. And then being there and answering questions. From there, he has done the rest on his own. Between he and Steve (Letarte, crew chief) with the relationship they have… we may have been a carrot out there for the 88 in some respects but the hard work those two have put in and that team has put in has put them where they are today.”
 
FOLLOWING UP ON THAT, DALE SAID SUNDAY THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ONE OF HIS BIGGEST FANS. IS THAT A NATURAL DYNAMIC OF TWO GUYS WHO WORK FROM THE SAME SHOP OR DOES IT GO BACK TO THE POTENTIONAL YOU’VE SEEN FROM HIM? WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT COMES FROM?
“Really from being in the same shop. Before that, I was always there for him but I didn’t have the opportunity to connect and talk at the level we do now. Being in the same shop has allowed that to happen. He and I have been friends for a lot of years – well before either of us were racing in NASCAR. I think the time and history there kind of helps take down some of the walls and lets us communicate.”

TAKE US THROUGH WHY YOU’RE RESPONISBLE FOR THE DALE JR. TWITTER PHENOMENON. WAS THIS A BET? WAS THIS PRODDING HIM, AND WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM HIM WATCHING HIM OPENING HIMSELF UP THE WAY HE HAS?
“He has taken it and run with it, huh? I, among many others, have been pushing him. There have been a lot of people involved on social media – even people from Twitter – who have put pressure on him and have come to me to put pressure on him over the years. It just wasn’t something he was interested in. As sharp as he is and as much time as he spends in the digital world, I knew that when he got involved that he would love it and it would work well for him. For myself, maybe in a different manner though, when you’re exposed like that and open yourself up like that, it lets your fans see the world through your eyes. He must have been watching from afar for awhile. He has the lingo down and is tagging people and replying to people pretty well. He didn’t enter as a rookie on Twitter in my opinion! He is off to a pretty strong start. All I did was explain to him how social media is the best way to show your value to your sponsors. I’ve taken a lot of time and put a lot into our digital presence because quite frankly I just didn’t believe in what I was reading in Joyce Julius reports – the way they poll people, form an opinion and give me a value. It didn’t correlate.  It just didn’t make sense to me. That’s what I explained to Junior – (social media) is a real-time, relevant way to show your relevancy and how you fit in the world. I think that really clicked in his mind and got him going.”

Chevy Racing–Phoenix–Kevin Harvick

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed his approach to the new qualifying procedure, testing at Las Vegas, working with Stewart-Haas, and more. Full Transcript:
 
IS TODAY YOUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY?
“Yes, it is; 13 years. This is the first time that (wife, DeLana and son, Keelan) they haven’t been out here. It’s obviously another piece of our lives that Mr. Keelan has changed. But west coast trips, as all you parents know, are not good to changes the schedule. So, first things first.”
 
ARE YOU GOING TO CELEBRATE WHEN YOU GET BACK HOME?
“Well, I’m actually staying out here through Las Vegas just because of the travel, and having to be there on Thursday is such a short timeframe at home. So yeah, it’s hard to celebrate anything anymore. With everything that’s going on here and everything with Keelan, so it stays pretty busy.”
 
ARE YOUR SORE AT ALL FROM LAST WEEK? I SAW YOUR TWEETS AND AM CURIOUS IF YOU’VE GOTTEN ANY REACTION?
“The tracks, for the most part, don’t listen to really anything unless it’s profitable for their shareholders.  So, when you see somebody spending $400 million dollars on their track and they don’t have soft walls around the inside, maybe they could spend $403 million to go ahead and finish the inside of the superspeedway there at Daytona. Yeah, I was sore all week. And, just today feel good enough to do what I need to do.
 
“So, it was just a weird situation. The car didn’t have any brakes or any steering and the throttle was partially hung coming off the wall and going through the wet grass and then into no safer barrier at the end of pit road there. So, it was a hard shot. It’s a little bit frustrating because it really shouldn’t even be a debate. I know they have data that shows where the most frequently hit spots are but we wear all this safety equipment and do all the things that we do to these race tracks for that one freak incident to keep things from happening like happened back in 2001. So, it’s shouldn’t even be a debate. It’s just one of those things I guess that you just wait around for something else to happen and then they’ll fix it.”
 
INAUDIBLE
“I don’t know. I went through there before on the top line and the guys in the medical center afterwards, and the guys that I saw, they said they about wrecked there the lap before. So, I went in there and the thing went straight with the front end and I tried to pull it off the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and the car spun out. So, it hadn’t ever hinted at being tight for 499 miles, so it was definitely unexpected.”
 
ON TESTING AT LAS VEGAS
“Well, we tested with the no ride height rule at Charlotte when we did the NASCAR test and I just expect the cars to have a little bit more grip and a little bit more speed than what we had before. Along with that, when you have those changes in the car, it changes all the springs and the way that the engineers go about looking at everything that they do. And so it’s a whole different thought process than it was last year. And as we found out last week in the Unlimited, the main thing that you have to pay attention to is being able to get the tires off the car on a pit stop. So, we had to adjust for that during Speedweeks a little bit last week. And so, I know they’ve worked hard on it but things happen a lot more aggressively coming into the pit stall and everything is hot and so you’ve just got to make sure that’s right.”
 
SO HOW IMPORTANT IS IT THAT YOU HAVE AN EXTRA DAY OUT THERE TO TEST?
“For us, not only is it a new team, which I felt like we’ve worked through a lot of things really well last week. We had some things here and there, a lot of things here and there, that we had to work through and everybody did a good job. So, those four extra hours to get everything sorted out for us is important, but I think there are just so many new things and the way that you look at things and the way you go about things and the springs and things that you run underneath the car are so drastically different than what you ran last year, that we’re looking for that baseline to be able to understand exactly what we need and where to work from. In that same sense, things will evolve really fast because things are quite a bit different. So, you’ll have something that will evolve into something new by the time you get to the next week.”
 
HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE QUALIFYING SESSION? DO YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC PLAN OF WHEN YOU WANT TO GO OUT AND HOW LONG YOU WANT TO BE OUT?
“I think it’s going to kind of be trial by fire, here. I think everybody is anticipating and is excited about it, but we don’t really know exactly what to do because the hard part about it is really the engine. And I know they make it sound really simple; you just take tape off. But when you start taking tape off the downforce becomes less, the packer becomes different and you can’t adjust the packer in the front of the car. You can adjust the air pressure, but the ride is going to change as you take tape off the front of the car. So there’s just a lot of things that play into it that you anticipate. But there’s also a lot of things that you don’t understand or know about with the car that you’re not going to think of until you actually get into the situation that it’s going to be a challenge for everybody just to try to put your arms around everything and understand it. I think it’s going to be great once we get it all going and get all the kinks worked out with it. It’s definitely going to keep the on-track excitement up. So I think everybody is excited but everybody is a little bit on edge because you don’t really know exactly what you need to do. You’ve thought of everything you can think of, but there will always be a hundred things that you don’t think of.”
 
DO YOU EXPECT TRAFFIC TO BE AN ISSUE HERE?
“You know, we do practice all the time. When everybody starts doing qualifying runs, sometimes there are guys out there doing race runs and sometimes there are guys out there doing whatever. And so, there will be a lot of different agendas. But we deal with it every week pretty much during practice with the traffic.”
 
ON RAIN IN THE FORECAST POSSIBLY AFFECTING QUALIFYING AND PRACTICE
“Yeah, it’s a unique spot we’ve been talking about it for a week now because we’ve seen the forecast and you just have to go out and try to put as many things together as you can and collect as much data as you can so you can put your race set-up together for Sunday. But you know that qualifying is important, but you also have to concentrate as much as we can on the race stuff. So, there are so many things that you have to put into and hour and a half that you have to prioritize. Qualifying will probably be the last thing that we prioritize too, but we’ll definitely have to get to it at some point.”
 
HOW DOES IT FEEL FOR A TEAM TO WIN EARLY IN THE SEASON AND BE IN THE CHASE?  HOW DOES THAT CHANGE AN APPROACH? WHAT IS THAT EMOTION?
‘Well, this year it’s different. Because, not that you’re not going to be aggressive, but you have to keep the mindset right now of that you still have to finish the races; but as you get in that position you can start being a lot more aggressive with really anything. Car set-ups, fuel strategy, race strategy, all those things fall into being more aggressive so you can take a lot of chances and then really, all you’re after at that point is winning races to try to gain more bonus points to protect yourself in the first round of the Chase to get the cushion.”
 
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF JUNIOR ON TWITTER?
“I think he’s doing good. I knew he’d like it once he got on there. He’s kind of that techy-type of guy who likes all the cool gadgets and stuff. And for a guy
who is that popular, it’s a really easy way to interact without having to create a frenzy that happens when he comes around somewhere in public. For him it’s got to be almost a relief to be able to engage with people and do it at his own pace and not have to be in this total frenzy because he is a rock star.”
 
DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT HIM THIS WEEK ON TWITTER?
“I think everybody did. One thing I like about what Dale Junior has is he’s got all those cool pictures of his dad. I’ll look forward to Thursdays now just for the fact that I know he’s going to post some really cool pictures from back in the day.”
 
AFTER GOING THROUGH THE WHOLE WEEK, IS THERE ANYTHING HE HAS TO WORRY ABOUT WHEN GETTING TO THE TRACK HERE ON FRIDAY?
“For him, he’s used to dealing with all the hype. So, it’s not anything different. Obviously you’ve been through a lot this week in just taking care of yourself and making sure you’re ready to go and not giving them the world and managing your time correctly is the hardest part to make sure that you focus on the race car and the things that you need to do in it. But he deals with that every week.”
 
HOW DOES THIS NEW CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT IMPACT YOUR STRATEGY FOR TESTING THIS YEAR?
“Honestly, we haven’t talked about a test yet. I think it’s just kind of seeing where you’re at and if things are going good, there’s no reason to use those tests up. You can save all four of them for Homestead. That would probably be the best way to do it.”
 
YOU HAVE A ROSTER OF FOUR-STAR DRIVERS AT STEWART-HAAS. HAVE YOU DISCOVERED THAT THERE IS A DOMINANT PERSONALITY THERE? DOES TONY STEWART HAVE MORE SAY BECAUSE HE’S THE BOSS? HOW IS THAT DEVELOPING, AS YOU ARE ALL GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER?
“I’ve learned that Tony listens a lot because he takes a lot of things in. When we sat in our first competition meeting this week, Tony seems like the guy that’s going to be the boss that doesn’t want to say anything and I can kind of relate to this. You don’t want to say something that’s out of line until you think about it and realize and understand how you need to approach it and fix it and do those things. But Tony is a smart person and I don’t think many people give him the credit. And I learned this sitting at the Roulette Table just how smart he was. He’s Rain Man smart with numbers and things.
 
“He seems like the guy that’s going to be thinking about things all the time and wants to give you the right answer instead of blurting out something; which you know, for us, we’re just brainstorming and thinking out loud and Tony is sitting there absorbing it all and wanting to make the right answer. And you can see that in him sitting there during the competition meeting and things that have happened so far.”
 
WHEN YOU SAY THAT, IS THERE A TOUGH BALANCE BETWEEN LEADING AS A LISTENER VERSUS AS A TALKER?
“Well, I think there’s a time for both. I think sometimes you have to set the tone when things are out of hand or something like that with a comment. I think there’s a time when things are calm and things are just progressing and you have to think about things and how to make things better. So, there’s a time for both of them. Like when I started my teams, I just wanted to if somebody did something wrong you just fire them. If something’s not going right, you cut it up. And you can’t run business that way. You have to be able to absorb it all and make a good decision for the company and it’s not just about one person or one car. You can tell that he’s been a part of a lot of things and understands that there’s a lot going on and everything affects something else.”
 
 

Chevy Racing–Tuesday Teleconference–Dale Earnhardt Jr.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference.  We’re joined by Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and the winner of the 56th running of the Daytona 500.  With the victory Dale became the 11th driver with multiple Daytona 500 victories.
 
Dale, congratulations to you and the entire 88 team.  It’s been about 36 hours since you took the checkered flag at Daytona.  Since then you’ve made the rounds in New York City, you wrapped up at ESPN in Bristol, now you are en route to Texas.  Has it all sunk in yet?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  This media tour is a great way to decompress off of something like that.  I don’t know how I would take it in just having nothing to do with myself.  It’s been fun being busy and talking about the win.  It’s an opportunity to celebrate my team and their effort, give everybody credit.
 
So I’m enjoying it.  It’s a lifetime opportunity to not only win the race but to be able to celebrate it and go talk to the world about it.
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll now go to the media for questions.
Q.  I want to ask you something about you talked about in the media center, mentioning that Jimmie Johnson has always been one of your biggest fans.  Speak more to your relationship with him.  I guess maybe you see each other more as equals than most people might think.  Is that the case?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I can’t really speak for Jimmie.  I admire his talent.  I admire the way he carries himself, how professional he is, even in crisis situations, difficult situations that he has to face. I do feel like as talented as he is, I think I am on the same level.  As a driver, you have to feel confident in yourself and believe in yourself.  So I think I’d put myself up against anybody in the field. But I think we definitely have a good friendship.  I enjoy seeing him have success because I know where he came from and I know the kind of person he is, who he was, who he is now.  I think he feels the same way. We’ve known each other a long time.  A lot of things have happened in that period of time that I think allows us to have a lot of respect and appreciation for each other.
 
Q.  The most compelling part was seeing the fans crying, excited, the video of the little boy.  It’s a compelling thing to watch the reaction.  Have you had much of a sense of the reaction from your fans?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Not really.  Seeing the videos was really the first bit of reaction I’ve seen.  I just started using my Twitter handle that I’ve had for several years.  Haven’t had a chance to follow anybody yet.  Been so busy, haven’t even had a chance to eat anything (laughter).
 
It’s been hectic as far as the schedule that we’ve had.  So when I sit down to all those videos, especially the kid crying, it gets me emotional seeing their emotions because I know what the win means to me.  To see what it means for someone else, how it affects someone else is such a reward. It’s a really awesome thing when you can do something that brings joy to someone else.  There’s no greater feeling for me anyway.  So I did like that obviously. We’re doing some stuff with radio or RJN 360 where we compile some clips.  I think fans may be able to check it out on DaleJr.com and stuff like that.  We put some stuff up on YouTube.  That’s going to be fun to be able to see.
Q.  Yesterday after you took the photos by the car, Rick was talking about how he feels like last year they finally were able to knock some of the pressure off you, getting you comfortable with close‑to‑perfect cars, letting you be yourself.  I’m curious if you think that kind of finally did happen last year.  If it did, at what point of the year was it?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  The cars that I drove in the Chase were far superior to anything I ever drove.  Even earlier in that same season, we were building new cars.  We had gained a lot of information and understanding on how to improve on our cars since the beginning of the year.  So we were able to start really putting all those additional features into one vehicle. Right there at the end of the year we were running so well.  To be able to be as fast as we were at Homestead, to finish the season off with such a strong car, almost get a win there, did wonders for our confidence.  It obviously showed how we were able to take off at the beginning of the year, get the win. We have a great situation here to have something unique.  The team is in a perfect position really to capitalize on our final year with Steve Letarte.
Q.  Can you describe what the difference is compared to before?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Drivers always talk about the car being into the racetrack, being into the track, getting more comfort and grip.  I’d say that we have improved that tremendously throughout the year.
Q.  The response to your victory sort of emphasizes your popularity.  Do you ever feel you’re carrying the weight of the sport on your shoulders?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I don’t really feel that way.  I feel like I represent Junior Nation.  I represent my fan base and the people that support our team. I think the sport is really kind of divided into the particular supporting systems for each driver.  You have the fans of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart.  I think we all represent our own fan base. There’s people out there that enjoy our sport that aren’t particularly fans of mine.  I don’t carry the whole sport on my shoulders.  We have enough personalities in the sport to do that individually. There’s tons of great storylines out there with the 3 coming back, Austin Dillon, all the rookies coming into the series, all the rookies coming into the Nationwide Series, Tony Stewart coming back, Danica’s first couple years trying to get her legs, trying to get going.
 
There’s a lot of good things happening in the sport that are relevant.  I just feel like a part of it.  Definitely got to stand on the center stage this past weekend by winning the Daytona 500.  But I never would assume that I was the face of the sport, even though some people have said that before.  I don’t think that’s the case at all.
Q.  Your excitement on Sunday night was a lot of fun to watch as you came into the media center.  It struck me even like your session on Thursday, you had this upbeat feel compared to the way you were a couple, three years ago.  Certainly how you’re up right now is easy to understand.  Can you describe where you were in life that had you looking so glum a couple years ago and what has really perked you up even before obviously Sunday?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  We weren’t running good.  We were struggling.  I think people underestimated how much I care about performance.  I don’t think people realized how much winning mattered to me. When you look at the critics and you look at their comments, aside from people saying I was overrated, they would always say I didn’t have killer instinct, I didn’t have the stuff that I needed to drive to win a championship, I didn’t want it bad enough. I never was bothered by being called ‘overrated’ because it’s such a broad term.  When people really pick at your determination, your drive, your hunger, that bothered me more than anything else did, because I grew up around the sport and I love it to death.  I would do anything for NASCAR.  I’d do anything for the health of the sport.  I’d sacrifice anything for it. When you don’t run good, it makes you upset, it disappoints you.  If you look at how ha
ppy I was Sunday after winning that race, you’ll know how bad I want to win, you’ll know how much winning means to me, and you’ll know from now on that there’s no questioning my killer instinct or drive, whatever term you want to use.
 
When you don’t run good, I don’t know why, in ’09, ’10, we were 20th, 25th every week.  I look at that now, I can’t even imagine it.  But I know I went through it. It’s such a long ways from where we are now.  Ran so good when we first came into the sport.  Then to go through that, get so far away from being competitive, then to come all the way back to where we are now, I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am and thankful I am that (indiscernible) didn’t give up on me, that Rick Hendrick didn’t give up on me, that they believed in me, were trying to find ways to make the chemistry work, regardless of what anybody said, regardless of what the critics were saying, when everybody was saying I was finished, whether I was going to do anything ever again.
 
I’ve been pretty vindicated, but I’m in a good place now.  I got my priorities in better shape.  I feel, like I said, we’re embarking on a season that could be something really special for me. Whether we win the championship or not remains to be seen obviously.  But I had one of my greatest years last year, and I think we can top that this season.
Q.  For those of us that don’t do what you do for a living, going back to Sunday night, how do you keep your focus during such a long rain delay?  Do you take your mind off racing during that time?  Let us know what you were doing.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I just put on some sweat pants, sat on the couch, ate a bunch of candy, played with the dogs, talked to my girlfriend, watched some TV, ate some junk food.  Normally whatever I would do on a Sunday if I had a Sunday off. I can switch it off.  We looked at the radar.  We got relatively assured we probably would be going racing again at 8:00, 830.  It’s not always common that you have such a structured idea of when the rain is going to stop, when you’ll get the track dry.
 
The rain delays where you’re wondering if it’s ever going to quit, when you don’t just know anything, that’s harder to deal with, always constantly looking out the window, has it stopped raining, how long has it stopped, are they close to getting the track dry, trying to stay on the phone, get texts from NASCAR, kind of keep up to speed on how close the track is, whether we need to put the suit on, get the suit off, be at the car, what the hell ever.  All that is a pain in the butt. It seemed none of that was never the case Sunday.  It was like, All right, man, it’s going to rain for a while, we’ll probably do it again at 8:00.  Have your stuff ready to go, so that’s what we did.
Q.  I don’t know if you had a chance to go back and look at the race.  Brad Keselowski said it was the most intense 500 ever.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I could feel it.  It was electric, man.  I don’t know what the hell was going on or why it was like that.  I wish I knew because that’s what NASCAR wants to bottle and sell. It felt so different than any other race I’d ever been in, any other Daytona 500 I’d been in for sure.  The intensity level was at a max.  Races usually have a lull in the middle, don’t get going till the end when it’s time to put money on the line, people start picking up the intensity.  We sustained it from the time we started, restarted, all the way to the end.  I couldn’t believe it. I think people were enjoying themselves.  I think everybody was having fun with each other, putting each other in difficult situations, bringing out the best in each other.  There was really something special going on.
 
I know everybody thinks it’s the greatest race they ever saw because Dale Jr. won it.  Taking that out of the equation, I think it really was an exciting race and one of the most exciting Daytona 500s I’ve ever been in and one of the most intense races I’ve ever been in. The drivers were really feeding off each other out there.  It was a really weird kind of deal.  But it was fun.  We were really having fun. I cannot wait to watch it.  I bet I watch it three times in a row back‑to‑back (laughter).  I can’t wait.
Q.  Dale, even with your huge volume of fans, you probably added even more new fans with the 500 win.  What would you share with your fans?  What would you say about what your fans mean to you?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I just hope they’re enjoying this win as much as I am.  They should celebrate it, celebrate it long.  If you’re a fan of a sports team, fan of the Washington Redskins, right?  They have won Super Bowls in the past.  They’re another storied franchise.  They haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1991. You face the trials and tribulations in the tough years.  Every off‑season you look at changes they made.  You hope they’re going to turn it around.  You hope they will, regardless if they will.  Even if you don’t know about the new coach, even if you question the changes they made, but you still put that belief and faith in them because you want them to win.
 
When that finally happens, like when they finally do win games and go to the playoffs, you love to celebrate it.  I hope they do.  I hope they celebrate that victory.  I hope they’re enjoying themselves this week.  I hope they enjoy the coverage.  I hope they think I’m doing a good job representing Junior Nation.  I hope they appreciate the coverage.
 
The new fans, I heard a couple people tell me they’re fans now.  Never watched a race.  Now they’re a NASCAR fan.  The race was fun and crazy to watch, now they’re fans.  I think we turned on a lot of people Sunday.  I think that race was destined to do that for some reason.  It had kind of that feel, that ’79 Daytona that was first live flag‑to‑flag broadcast that really turned the world on to what we were doing through network television.
 
My race might not have had that kind of impact, but it’s comparable I think in ways.  Yeah, hopefully this is going to be a solid year.  NASCAR made some changes to try to kickstart some energy and boost awareness and excitement in what our series can do.  I think we got a great start to the year, for sure.
 
THE MODERATOR:  That’s all the time we have for today.  Thanks for joining us and good luck this weekend in Phoenix.
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I enjoyed the teleconference.  Thanks for having me on.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you to the media for joining us.

Chevy Racing– Post Daytona 500

MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – Experienced Motor Problems on Lap 31
YOU HAD TWO GREAT CARS HERE IN DAYTONA FOR SPEEDWEEKS.  DOES DISAPPOINTING EVEN DESCRIBE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW?
“No not really.  I mean it’s definitely a tough break for the team.  The car was super-fast today and I went to bed last night thinking that this was my best shot ever to win the Daytona 500 and really felt that way – even today.  The car was just so good and we were just riding around and biding our time you know, being patient and trying to get to the end of this thing.  Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.  It looks like something knocked the oil pump belt off.  Not sure if it was debris off the race track or what.  You typically get about two seconds to shut it off once that belt comes off or it will blow up and we just didn’t get enough warning.
 
“Definitely a shame and definitely a tough break for this team.  They built us a great race car.  I guess the only good news is that we have a car in one piece to race next time because it’s pretty darn good.”

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 145
WAS THAT THE HARDEST HIT YOU HAVE EVER TAKEN?  HOW DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW?
“I don’t know it feels like they are all pretty hard unfortunately.  I think more than anything I am just upset that the GoDaddy car felt really good and it was the best car that I had all SpeedWeeks. It seemed like we could catch whoever and it seemed like we could move around, make lanes and just move around and move forward at the end of the day.  I felt like everything was going pretty well, so it’s just upsetting you know.  It’s just the culmination of sitting around all day and you know.  It’s a bummer, but you know that is the excitement of speedway racing that anything can happen, and it was unfortunate that I was on the short end of the accident.  But that is the kind of thing that happens and I appreciate everyone sticking around and watching, and we will go get them at Phoenix.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
DOES YOUR SECOND DAYTONA 500 WIN TAKE ON EVEN MORE MEANING CONSIDERING THE JOURNEY YOU’VE TRAVELED OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS?
“Yeah, I think so. Man, winning this race is the greatest feeling that you can feel in the sport, aside from obviously accepting the trophy for the championship. I didn’t know if I’d ever get a chance to feel that again and it feels just as good, if not better than the first because of how hard we tried year after year after year funning second all those years and wondering why and what we needed to do. I’ve got to get my head together. I’ve got to thank National Guard and Diet Mountain Dew and all our sponsors; Kelly Blue Book, Chevy, and Sprint and my team. This race car was awesome. We showed them there night long how good a car we had and it’s because of these guys right here putting it together in the shop. We could fight off battles after battles. We got a little help from Jeff (Gordon) to get away on that restart and tried to take care of it from there. This is amazing. I can’t believe this is happening. I’ll never take this for granted because this just doesn’t happen twice, let alone once. I’m so thankful. Thanks to all my fans out there for supporting. We pretty much might be in the Chase? We get that off our chest and we are two-time Daytona 500 champion.”

WHAT DID YOU DO ON THAT LAST RESTART?  WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO TO KEEP THE LEAD?
“We had enough car to battle them off all night long and if they took the lead we could grab it back pretty quickly.  We had a real fast car.  I’ve got to thank Steve Letarte, Mr. Hendrick, all this team that put this car together.  When you come down here and race the car does most of the work and these guys deserve a lot of credit for how good a piece they had out there tonight.  Just real proud of my National Guard team.  Got to thank Diet Mountain Dew, Kelly Blue Book, Chevrolet and Sprint, all our partners.  Those last few laps I just got in front of my teammate Jeff (Gordon) on that restart.  Worked with him on getting a good restart and getting pushed out in front, so I’ve got to thank him, without that I don’t win the race.  Then once I got out front I just kind of listened to my spotter TJ (Majors) and started watching in the mirror and seeing what lane I needed to get in front of, who I needed to get in front of to give shoves.  I knew I had some tough competition back there Brad Keselowski is getting smarter and smarter every time he races at these places.  He is as good as anybody now at plate racing and I figured he was going to put up a pretty good battle.  I was a little worried about that, but we had such a strong car we were able to hold everybody off.”
 
IT SEEMED LIKE THERE WERE A COUPLE OF TIMES YOU WOULD GET SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH FOLKS AND MAYBE GET BACK A LITTLE BIT, BUT YOU WERE ABLE TO BATTLE BACK.  WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“Just the race car was so superior to a lot of the competition out there.  It starts in the body shop, the engine room at Hendrick, all those guys that put all that effort in.  I keep saying it over and over, but just a reference to how much goes into the body of this car.  There are 11 coats of clear coat on top of the decal.  These guys work their guts out all winter long on every part of the car from front to rear.  It’s perfectly prepared.  The whole series is like that it is so competitive, but I love this crew that I’m with.  We are as competitive as we can be.  This could be a spectacular year for us.”
 
YOU MENTIONED THE CREW BEFORE YOU TALKED TO ANYBODY YOU GOT AND YOU WENT AND PERSONALLY THANKED AND HUGGED EVERYONE OF THEM:
“(Laughs) I love ‘em man.  We have so much fun, every one of them said last year even when we didn’t win a race that was probably the most fun a lot of them had, had in the series just in a year racing we were having so much fun.  This is truly a special group.  I won’t take it for granted.  I won’t forget it.  It’s been a real pleasure working with every one of them and we are making things happen.  Hopefully we will have solid year.”
 
YOU ARE THE FIRST ONE TO QUALIFY FOR THE CHASE:
“I know I’m the first feature winner and we are in the Chase.  I’m pumped up man.  Trust me man we are going to have a blast this year.”
 
STEVE LETARTE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
CAN YOU EVEN PUT INTO WORDS WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU AS A CREW CHIEF AND FOR YOUR FAMILY TO GET YOUR FIRST DAYTONA 500 WIN?
“Oh, no; this is the one.  You work all winter long at the shop and come down here with your best equipment. They built a great race car and everybody worked really hard. Dale drove a great race. But if you’re going to win one, this is the one you want to win. I’m glad. He knew I really wanted to win this one and he drove a great race. There is nothing better I could think of in the world than to give Mr. Hendrick a 500 win in the last year.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
TELL US ABOUT YOUR EVENING:
“Well I know it’s not a win for our Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet, but we have not made it to the end here in quite a while so I think it just shows what this No. 24 team is capable of when we are at the end.  We made a great effort at it.  Congrats to (Dale Earnhardt) Junior the world is right, right now.  Dale, Jr. just won the Daytona 500 to kick off 2014 that is a sign that the NASCAR season is going to be a good one.  I had some great pushes from Jimmie Johnson and some other guys out there.  That is what it takes if you are going to either win it or be in contenti
on to win it.  We had some good things go our way today, pit stops, everything.  The whole team just did an awesome job all winter long and down here all week.”
 
THREE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CARS IN THE TOP FIVE, OBVIOUSLY YOU WANTED TO WIN, BUT TELL US HOW THE FINAL LAPS UNFOLDED:
“Oh my God, I am so excited for Hendrick Motorsports right now.  Congratulations to Dale, that is so cool and I know how excited his fans are.  Rick Hendrick, another Daytona 500 victory.  Three Hendrick cars in the top five is spectacular.    You know, I don’t know what happened when the rain went away and the track dried, but everybody’s brains just flipped over to this is a shootout.  It was unbelievable the kind of racing there was.  Two and three wide, bump drafting and just craziness.  There for a while we didn’t have great track position and I was just hanging on and trying not to wreck and seeing other guys doing the same thing.
 
“We got through some wrecks and then we started having some things going our way.   We got good pushes, good lines and my spotter Eddie did a great job.  Alan and this team just did an amazing job and gave me a great car at the end of the show.”
 
IN RETROSPECT, WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE THAT LAST LAP?
“No, I gave Junior a great push when we took the green so we got a good start.   The 99 got to my bumper and we got kind of going, but he got sucked-off of me or whatever happened, and I was just a sitting duck at that point.  I saw Jimmie Johnson go three-wide behind me and my lane started going backwards.  But he got to me and gave me a huge shove and the 11 pulled down in front of me and we just went.  At that point I am thinking maybe we can get to Junior, but when I got to third I thought anything in the top three at that point without a wrecked car would be a great finish.   We wanted to win and we had a car that could but we are also excited to see Junior win.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
TALK ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT, JR. WINNING THE DAYTONA 500:
“I want to talk about my teammate and the awesome job he did and how proud I am of Hendrick Motorsports and the 48/88 shop.  Steve Letarte and all those guys, Junior included obviously just very happy for them.  He has been knocking on the door here at the 500 for a lot of years and got it done tonight.  He did an awesome job.”
 
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN.  WHAT IS IT LIKE IN THE LAST FEW LAPS OF THESE RACES?
“If you can be the lead car and control the lanes like Junior did there in the closing laps that is the spot to be in.  It’s not an easy job by any means, but I was trying to get in that position and got in the outside lane.  I got to the head of the outside lane and it just never really materialized and I slid back some.  A solid performance and just real happy for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports.”
 
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED NINTH
ON GETTING A TOP-10 FROM THE POLE IN HIS FIRST 500:
“The biggest thing is just having that bottom lane at the end. My car couldn’t suck up as good after that wreck. We had a heck of a run down the back stretch, and everything started stacking from the middle to the top just from all the side drafting.  Man, the side drafting it just kills you. I just had clean space down there; used it, and it worked out. There was a big wreck and I just go by it.
 
“Getting through that wreck was pretty big. I don’t know how I didn’t connect with that outside wall. Somehow it slid through there perfectly, and back steering through it, caught it and drove on. And the save off of two; those two were my favorite moments today. I think we could have wrecked a race car pretty hard.
 
“For Chevy, I think it was a good day, and man, it is wild. I don’t know what to think right now. A lot of stuff happened fast.”
 
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS RUN:
“It’s been an eventful week for us really. We’ve just had a lot of near-misses in practice and then in the Duel and then tonight was just really an eventful night. The entrance of pit road was wet and we locked-em’ up real bad. We didn’t realize how wet it was and I got a pit road speed penalty and got a flat tire sliding the tires. And then we recovered from that. We got back and raced up to the front and had a real fast car and got back on the lead lap. We had some really good runs back to the front again. I honestly think we could have been better. Well, we for sure could have been better than tenth. But it’s a solid finish for us considering it’s a new program and it’s a really good start to the season. A top 10 here is always good.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 13TH
WHAT HAPPENED?
“My car just went straight I thought I had a flat tire, but Carl (Edwards) and Reed (Sorenson) said that they about spun out the lap before down there with some oil or whatever was on the race track.  My car just went in there and went straight like it blew a right-front tire and I clobbered the side of the No. 18.  I hate it for everybody who got their cars torn up, but guys on our Budweiser Chevy did good all night.  We kind of got stuck in a bad spot there before that last yellow and kind of got back there where we didn’t need to be.  All in all it was a good week and even though we wrecked we still finished.  Good way to start the year.”
 
REED SORENSON, NO. 36 GOLDEN CORRAL CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 16TH
WHAT HAPPENED?
“From what I can tell it’s just that the track, I don’t know what everybody else is saying, but to me it didn’t look like the track got cleaned up.  I know the lap before a few of us about wrecked going through where the spillage was or whatever got spilled.  Then I knew it was going to be bad the next lap because everybody was three-wide going for it.  I mean as soon as the No. 4 car hit it I was one row back on the high side of him and as soon as he hit it he was wrecking.  There was no way he was going to save it.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 145
WAS THAT THE HARDEST HIT YOU HAVE EVER TAKEN?  HOW DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW?
“I don’t know it feels like they are all pretty hard unfortunately.  I think more than anything I am just upset that the GoDaddy car felt really good and it was the best car that I had all SpeedWeeks. It seemed like we could catch whoever and it seemed like we could move around, make lanes and just move around and move forward at the end of the day.  I felt like everything was going pretty well, so it’s just upsetting you know.  It’s just the culmination of sitting around all day and you know.  It’s a bummer, but you know that is the excitement of speedway racing that anything can happen, and it was unfortunate that I was on the short end of the accident.  But that is the kind of thing that happens and I appreciate everyone sticking around and watching, and we will go get them at Phoenix.”
 
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 162
YOU JUST LOOKED AT THE REPLAY AND SHOOK YOUR HEAD.  IS WHAT YOU SAW ON THE MONITOR WHAT YOU SAW HAPPEN FROM THE CAR?
“Yeah, it was just a long day.  I got in the wall on lap one, blew the right rear and spun so we had a rough start from the go of it.  But we just kind of rode around the whole race there and finally got in the Lucky Dog position so we were racing pretty hard there.  I just pulled the middle line and I don’t know if Austin (Dillon) got a little loose, shuffled up the track and got into me and turned us sideways.  So it’s been a really long day.  I can’t wait to get to Phoenix and try and do better. 
Been at Daytona a lot and it sucks to end it like this, but we will go to Phoenix and try to rebound and get the momentum built up.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – Experienced Motor Problems on Lap 31
YOU HAD TWO GREAT CARS HERE IN DAYTONA FOR SPEEDWEEKS.  DOES DISAPPOINTING EVEN DESCRIBE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW?
“No not really.  I mean it’s definitely a tough break for the team.  The car was super-fast today and I went to bed last night thinking that this was my best shot ever to win the Daytona 500 and really felt that way – even today.  The car was just so good and we were just riding around and biding our time you know, being patient and trying to get to the end of this thing.  Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.  It looks like something knocked the oil pump belt off.  Not sure if it was debris off the race track or what.  You typically get about two seconds to shut it off once that belt comes off or it will blow up and we just didn’t get enough warning.
 
“Definitely a shame and definitely a tough break for this team.  They built us a great race car.  I guess the only good news is that we have a car in one piece to race next time because it’s pretty darn good.”
 
WAS IT INDEED AN ENGINE THAT PUT YOU OUT?
“Yeah it was definitely an engine.  What a shame we had such a fast race car. I was really happy with it today.  This car was a lot better than the car we raced Thursday night.  We were really pumped up about this race.  Just kind of biding our time out there taking it easy, made it a little bit of a run there before it blew up toward the front.  Wish we could have hung around all day to see what we could have done.  The car was super-fast and I have to thank everybody on the Furniture Row Chevy for giving me a great race car.  Just a shame.  Not sure what happened yet looks like the oil pump belt came off.  I don’t know if something came up off the race track and knocked it off or what.  You’ve got about two seconds warning when the belt comes off before it blows up.  That is what happened.”
 
WHAT WAS THE RACING LIKE OUT THERE?
“Yeah I mean guys are being patient taking their time, trying to be smart, giving each other plenty of room.  I expect that it’s going to get a lot hairy later on, but guys realize that this is a big deal this race and you’ve got to get to the end to have a shot at winning it.”
 
WHAT CAUSED THE ENGINE TO EXPIRE?
“Without having a camera under the hood you really don’t know what caused it.  I mean you can speculate.  We don’t have the [Oil Pump] belt so it’s hard to tell if it’s broke in half, if something hit it or what happened.  I will leave that to the engine guys.  I don’t want to speculate.  I just know the belt is not on there and it should be.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR DISAPPOINTMENT:
“Super disappointed.  I went to bed last night feeling like I could win this race that is how good my car was yesterday.  Honestly, felt like it was the best car I’ve ever had here.  It felt like for 20 some laps today I felt the same way.  I really felt like the car was super strong.  Anytime we could get even two or three cars lined up with us we could pass guys on the bottom pretty good. That is difficult to do here.  I felt great about the car and just a shame we didn’t get to hang around all day and show what we could do.  Just disappointing you know, you want to hang around this race long enough until it gets exciting and you really get to racing hard that is when it’s fun.  I didn’t get to do that today so it sucks.”

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Wins the Daytona 500
Chevrolet SS Drivers Capture Three of Top-Five Finishing Positions
 
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 23, 2014) – After an almost six-and-a-half hour rain delay, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sealed the deal with a popular win of the 2014 Daytona 500.  After finishing second in three of the last four Daytona 500 races, the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS fielded by Hendrick Motorsports captured his second career victory in the Great American Race by leading six times for a total of 54 laps.  His first Daytona 500 win came in 2004.
 
“Congratulations to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and the No. 88 Chevrolet SS team on winning the 2014 Daytona 500,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports.  “Dale, Steve Letarte,  and the entire crew demonstrated incredible focus, determination and teamwork all race long. They communicated really well on the radio in talking through race strategy, pit decisions and re-starts. This was a great start to the season by the No. 88 team in their pursuit of the championship.”
 
Earnhardt, Jr. was scored as the race leader when the race was restarted for the last time lap 199 restart and the race went into overtime with a green-white-checkered finish.  Earnhardt, Jr. got the restart of his life to lead the field for the scheduled final two circuits. However, a multi-car accident as the field thundered through turns three and four, forced the caution flag to fly which froze the field and gave the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS the win.
 
As the first feature winner of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) season, Earnhardt, Jr. is now well on his way to securing a berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. This win also marked his 20th career NSCS victory and his third at Daytona International Speedway.
 
Earnhardt, Jr.’s victory is also a hallmark win for team owner Rick Hendrick.
 
“In addition, congratulations to Rick Hendrick and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports on scoring their eighth Great American Race win,” said Campbell.
 
Giving Chevrolet three of the top-five finishing positions were four-time NSCS champion Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS, in the fourth finishing positions, and six-time and defending NSCS champion Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS in fifth.
 
Pole sitter Austin Dillon brought his No. 3 DOW Chevrolet SS home in ninth place followed by Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS, in 10th position giving Team Chevy five of the top-10 finishing positions.
 
The 2014 season continues with round two on March 2, 2014 at Phoenix International Raceway.
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
STEVE LETARTE, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, WINNING CREW CHIEF
RICK HENDRICK, WINNING TEAM OWNER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS

KERRY THARP:  Dale Earnhardt, Jr., what does it feel like to win the Daytona 500?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Man, it feels incredible.  You know, I was looking at winning this race in 2004.  It’s the greatest feeling you can have as a driver in NASCAR at a single event in a single day.  Just trying to explain what that feeling is to people, I’ve been trying to tell people for 10 years what that felt like.  It’s just hard to put it into words what winning this race really means you.
            As an individual, I felt lucky back then because I was with family, working with Tony, Sr. and Tony, Jr.  That was a great team.  Had my Uncle Danny on it, a lot of the guys that worked with my dad for years on the Nationwide team in the ’90s and even the ’80s.
            What makes this special is the people you’re with when it happens.  I have a great relationship with my crew chief, Steve.  He’s put an amazing team around me that we all really enjoy working together.  And Rick’s here to make all that possible.  It just seems like it’s too good to be true really.
  &nbs
p;         We ended last season on such a strong note.  In the garage area at Homestead after the race, we were standing there tearing apart racecars, talking about how great the season was.  A lot of these guys, like Jason Burdett has been in this sport for a long time, he’s my car chief, said that’s the most fun he’s ever had in a season in the sport ever.  That was the biggest compliment.  I took it personally as a compliment.  I know he meant he was really enjoying himself.
            That really summed it up to me that this group is unique and special.  That’s what makes winning this race that much more special.  Obviously it’s the biggest race and most important race we run.  But the people you do it with is really the icing on the cake.
            We really all are best friends, enjoy working with each other.  We pull for each other.  Lucky enough to have Amy with me, my sister Kelley, LW, my staff, Mike Hoag, Laura that helps with HMS.  All those people we grind every week throughout the season.
            When you got great people around you, it just makes that whole experience so much more special.
            KERRY THARP:  Dale, I’d be remiss also not to ask you, as you mentioned earlier, with this win, what do you think about the Chase?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Yeah, we don’t have to think about it (smiling).  We don’t have to think about it.  If everybody is telling the truth, we’ve won a race, we should be in it, so I’m not going to worry about it (laughter).
            Now, if I got to win two of these things, I don’t know if we’re that worried ’cause we’re going for the jugular this year.
            This is a good analogy for Steve I’ve been using with him.  You know, when you’re a kid, especially when you’re growing up around racing, me and all my buddies would go to pay to ride the go‑kart ride, whatever racetrack we were at.  Every racetrack, Talladega, every place would have them.  We’d get a hundred bucks from daddy and go ride the go‑karts till the wheels fell off, till we ran out of money.
            On that last ride, you let it all hang out.  You didn’t care if you got kicked off.  If you didn’t get kicked off, something was wrong, on the last ride.  This is Steve’s last ride.  He’s going to let the rough side drag all year.  He’s got a little racing left in him, I think he’s going to try to get it all out.  That’s good for me.  I’m fortunate to be on the ride with him.
            This is his first Daytona 500 victory.  So I was glad to be a part of that, to be part of the team that helped deliver that for him.
            But, yeah, making the Chase is important.  I didn’t anticipate having to put that to bed so quickly.  We’ll go ahead and concentrate on winning more races.  Like I said, at the end of last year, we felt like we were right on the cusp of doing just that, winning races.  We’re turning the corner right at the right time.  I got one last year with this guy and we’re going to make it something special.
            Steve, talk about the significance of tonight’s win.
            STEVE LETARTE:  I don’t even know if I know it quite yet.
            It’s Daytona.  It’s a place I’ve been coming my whole life, 20 years in the sport.  I remember before that coming with my dad, watching him run around here.
            It’s like when we sat in the drivers meeting today, when they announced the guys that were in the Hall of Fame, all the great drivers there, they don’t say how many times they won Martinsville, Bristol, Charlotte.  This is the five‑time Sprint Cup Champion, and a three‑time Daytona 500 champion.
            Any race they decide when you win it, you’re the champion of the event, not the winner of the event, it kind of sets it apart.  That’s really what this is all about, is to come down here.
            I think everyone in this room could be a resident of Florida as much time as we spent in Daytona over the years.  You spend so much time all winter long working on cars.  Everybody brings their best stuff.  These races are hard to win.  We’ve been fortunate to run second the last two years.  I’ve seen him put our cars in positions they shouldn’t be in.  He really makes something happen.
            He said it best earlier in Victory Lane.  For the last two years, we’ve been that car in third, fourth or fifth trying to figure out how we beat the leader.  Coming here today, we decided if someone was going to win it, they were going to have to pass us.  We wanted to be the leader at the end.  That strategy worked.  It only worked because he held it.
            We had a pit stop there with more than 50 to go.  So he held them off for a long time and we got help from our teammates.  The whole thing is kind of surreal.  I don’t think I’m quite eloquent enough in my words to describe it all.  It will probably sink in well maybe never.  We’ll see.  It’s a big day.
            KERRY THARP:  Rick, congratulations.  Certainly you’ve won many big races, this one several times.  Talk about the significance of this win by the No. 88 team.
            RICK HENDRICK:  I like to listen to these two guys talk.
            But, you know, this is really special.  I mean, after last year with Dale and Stevie running so good, five second‑place finishes, this year locking in Chase, I saw him put the sticker on the car, to win the Super Bowl here, he drove his butt off tonight.  He made some phenomenal moves.  Stevie called a great race.  T.J. did a heck of a job spotting.  I mean, it was flawless all night.
            But this race is so big and it is our Super Bowl, so it will carry us, this team.  I’m excited to watch them.  Now you’re in the Chase, just go race hard and have fun.  I think it makes a statement how good they were last year and carrying it forward this year.
            KERRY THARP:  Questions now, please.
            Q.  Dale, it seemed like no matter who was behind you, who was pushing you or who you were trying to block, you didn’t have any trouble maintaining your lead.  Was there anybody who gave you a particular problem tonight?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Biffle was rather competitive.  He was the guy I saw quite often.  My teammate Jimmie knows what to do when he’s up there.  He’s my teammate.  When he is leading the race and I’m running
second, in this particular moment, it’s in my best interest to protect both of us.  So that presents a unique challenge.
            We just had such a great racecar, I’ll tell you.  You guys know this place.  You got to have a lot of car.  The guy that wins this race has to make some smart moves and do some things either by luck or on a whim or experience or what have you, but the car really does the majority of the work.  Just the car has to be excellent and above par.
            My car tonight, I knew it was something special.  I didn’t know it was as good as it was tonight.  But in practice, a couple times throughout the weekend, I noticed it was something unique.  When we got the opportunities to sort of work our way into the lead, hold it, I was able to fight guys off, like you were saying, hold the lead, hold the lead, keep moving line to line.
            I learned a little bit about what I needed to do to hold the position.  The outside line worked best on the straightaways.  When they’re all side‑by‑side behind you, the outside line gets the run on the straightaway and the inside line gets to run on the corner.  You get in front of each line, depending where you’re at on the racetrack.  Just keep watching guys, watching how they’re tight together, whether they’re pushing each other.
            You can sort of anticipate a run coming.  You just sort of jump in front of it and they shove you away.
            But the car has to be something special.  Typically if the car isn’t anything special, you get diced around and guys can make a fool of you and send you on back outside the top five kind of easily.
            But our car was able to battle and fend off guys left and right it seemed at times.
            Q.  Dale, you were talking to Steve on the radio before the final laps about how nervous you were, how you couldn’t enjoy it at all.  Have you had that same feeling when you’ve fallen short or was there something about tonight that made it any different?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  No, you always have that feeling when you’re sitting in position.  When you’re close enough to the front to win races, there’s a lot on the line, it’s a big race, and you want to win it so badly, your team wants to win it so badly.  You realize at that moment, especially inside of 20 laps to go, you’re in the top five, you realize at that moment there’s countless people watching on television, there’s countless sitting in the grandstands with your shirts and hats on, your team over on pit wall, your crew chief, your family back home watching.  There’s so many people pulling for you that want to see you win, it’s a heavy weight.
            You get so caught up in trying to do what you can to make that happen.  When you finish second or you fall short, it’s really disappointing.  You’re proud of that effort inside somewhere, but outwardly you’re disappointed because winning’s all that matters when it comes to Daytona.  They won’t really remember you for running second a lot.
            It’s such a great feeling.  It’s such a great feeling.  You want to do it again.  I’m grateful to have one it twice now.  I was grateful to have won it once.  In about six months, I’ll be as urgent to try to do it a third times as I was after the first.
            Q.  Dale, was that tape deal much ado about nothing or was that a concern?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I had no thought about it.  He said the grill was half covered.  We had two laps to go.  We were cycling the engine, trying to save fuel.  That was bringing the temperature down quite a bit.  I knew that the motor was going to be fine.
            If anything, it would help us.  Anytime you add tape to the grill, you speed the car up.  If anything, it was going to help my car.  They could have taped it solid for all I cared those last two laps.  Would have been fine.
            I don’t know how Steve feels about that.
            STEVE LETARTE:  I think he’s right.  Once we saw the white, we knew it wouldn’t be an issue.  We knew at most we were going to run two laps at a time maybe a couple times.  We figured we could maintain good enough temperatures to do it.  It closed half the grill off, so I think we’ll take it.
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  It’s like fate.
            Q.  Rick, obviously this is a huge deal for your team, but talk about what it means for NASCAR to have Dale Jr. in this position this early, just the bigger picture for the season.
            RICK HENDRICK:  Well, I think you see the fans’ reaction.  We were in primetime.  It’s going to be exciting to see what the ratings were tonight.
            But Dale’s got a bunch of loyal fans.  It’s good for the sport.  It was good TV.  It was a great race.  It doesn’t hurt to have him, the most popular driver, win the biggest race, the Super Bowl of our sport.
            I think it will be good for NASCAR.  It’s good for all of us.  It’s definitely good for our organization.  It takes a little heat off of me with his fans.
            STEVE LETARTE:  I know what you mean.
            RICK HENDRICK:  Stevie and I know about that (laughter).
            Q.  Dale, a lot of drivers have been asked about what this means for the sport.  Do you have a sense of that?  What is your feeling about people talking about how big this is for the sport?  How much of a weight does that put on you and the relief you feel tonight?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  It’s not a weight when you’re able to deliver.  It’s a weight when you’re not able to deliver.  When people say you’re the face of the sport, you’re running fifth or 10th every week, it’s very challenging because you want to deliver and you’re not delivering.
            This brings me a lot of joy.  I look forward to going and doing all the media all week long and representing the sport.
            I don’t know that I realize how big a deal it is, but I know I got a lot of fans that are really happy, really enjoyed what we did tonight.  Can’t wait to go to work tomorrow to brag to all their buddies around the water cooler.  Monday is going to be a fun day for a lot of people in Junior Nation.
            Q.  Can you do that with the champion’s breakfast, too?
      &nbs
p;     DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I won’t complain much tomorrow.  I’ll be slow.  I’ll be there nonetheless.
            I’m looking forward to the entire week.  You just don’t get to do this every week.  I’m going to really embrace this whole experience.  I won’t be home for a while, but it will be well worth it.  I think I’ll have some fun even throughout the process.
            Q.  Did you really think it would take 10 years to get back to this particular Victory Lane?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Yeah, I did, because the competition’s changed so much.  I was talking earlier about how when we was winning all these plate races at DEI, there was a bigger tolerance in the field.  Our cars were so superior to other organizations.  About the only organization that could run with us was Rick’s.  Otherwise, we was out there running by ourselves.
            The competition, the way the rules are, the way NASCAR has transformed over the years, there’s no room between the competition.  There’s just no tolerance.  Everybody’s basically got the same car out there, and it just comes down to who can make the right moves.
            Granted, our car was definitely extremely unique tonight and special, one of the best cars that I think Steve’s ever put on a plate track in his career.  But I knew it was going to be challenging.  As soon as I set down in the drivers meeting, seeing all the talent in that room, I knew it was going to be a difficult day for anybody to win this race.
            It’s only going to get tougher.  This sport is just growing tremendously, getting so much more competitive every year.
            Q.  Steve, from a practical standpoint, now that you’re locked in the Chase, what does this allow you to do differently that you wouldn’t be if you had to be fighting for a spot?
            STEVE LETARTE:  I think without a doubt all the crew chiefs on pit road understand the risk versus reward.  There’s a line there.  It’s hard to explain.  It’s like a return on investment.  There’s a number there that everybody knows how many positions you’re willing to give up versus how much of a chance you have to win.  I think that opens our window tremendously.
            Now it’s easy to say you can run 20th and go for a win, where if you’re racing for the points, you can’t afford to give up 20 points.
            When they come out with this points system, we talked about it a lot, especially at Media Day.  I don’t think it changes much before you win.  I don’t think anybody can take any bigger chances we already take to try to win.  I think once you have won one, it gives you an opportunity to really take borderline ridiculous chances.  It really does.  If there is a slim chance, that’s really all the chance you need.
            We’ve been very fortunate to have good runs and there’s been a lot of seconds, close calls, run out of gas in the 600, a lot of stuff over the years.  I think those opportunities are going to come around more often now.
            Q.  Dale, do you think you could have won this race three to four years ago, given what you were facing given the talent running up behind you?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I tried, you know.  I’ll be honest.  There’s something about the car that you sort of connect with the car.  That car that I drove tonight, we got along.  You know, we worked as a unit.  It just happens.
            It’s hard to explain with this guy sitting next to me.  The cars we’ve had in the past, I drove ’em all week down here at Speedweeks.  I just didn’t have that 100% confidence in either the car or myself or us as a unit to be able to drive it with the confidence that you need to win.
            Yeah, that car tonight, man, it was just doing so many great things.  I could depend on it.  When I would ask it and put it in certain situations and expect it to do what I wanted it to do, it did it.
            The car’s everything at Daytona and Talladega.  I think I do a good job of drafting and understanding the draft, knowing what to do, when to do it, but you can’t without the right car.  The difference between the right car and what I’ve been driving is this much, that’s how close it is out there.  You know it when you’ve got that much more.  It’s an obvious gut feeling you feel from the seat of your pants.
            That car was just ready to go, man.  It was just asking for everything that I was giving it.  I mean, I felt like I was just out there just beating ’em off one at a time.  Man, it was awesome.  Just an amazing car.
            Q.  (No microphone.)
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I put one in there before.  It’s a good feeling.  Fans come down and take pictures of it.  I signed autographs with it sitting there all year long.  Memories will come back to you from tonight.  It’s a great thing.
            Q.  Dale, do you expect Mooresville to burn to the ground tonight?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  As soon as I said that, that was probably not the perfect choice of words.  I was exploding inside.  As soon as my mouth opened, everything just came on out (laughter).
            Yeah, you know, that’s how you feel.  You know, that’s the emotion you feel when something like that happens to you.
            Imagine in your profession the greatest thing that could happen to you.  That’s what happened to me tonight.  I just couldn’t contain myself.
            Q.  You talked about the car earlier.  Did you know before the delay that the car was going to be that good?  How tough was it to wait?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Made it easier actually to wait knowing we had such a good racecar.  Typically when you and the car aren’t on the same page, like I said, it’s just that little bit, you grow concerned about what you need to do to win the race.  The slope got steeper, gets steeper with every lap.
            Tonight, you know, as we drove, even as we waited it out, I knew we had enough racecar.  I was a little bit nervous because the pressure was on me because there was plenty of car to do it.
            Q.  Dale, is there anything special about the confluence with Austin?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I thought a
bout holding the three fingers running down the front straightaway.  I didn’t want to bring too much attention to that.  I just want Steve and Rick and the team, everybody, to enjoy this experience as it should.
            But, you know, it felt so comfortable all week for that number to be back.  I’m happy with that situation.  I’m happy for Austin.  You guys have gotten to know him over the last couple years.  He’s got a great head on his shoulders.  He appreciates the history of the number.  He appreciates not only what it meant as an Earnhardt fan, but what it meant for his family.  It means something entirely unique to him separate of my father.
            I appreciate that and I’m happy for him and Richard.  They’re really enjoying that experience together.  That’s got to be something special, grandfather and grandson, to be able to do that together.
            I’m very comfortable.  I had not thought about it once all week ’cause it just seems right.
            Q.  Dale, you said when you crossed the finish line, This one’s better than the first.  Then you said in Victory Lane, This one’s not better than the first.  Which one is it?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I was thinking about that.  When I crossed the finish line, I was relieved that I’ve done it again and I’ve done it with the people I’m with.  Initially the reaction was, This is better because I’m back in Victory Lane.
            It’s different because it’s the people, you know.  I was talking about that earlier.  It’s better because you had a taste of it before.  To win it the first time, you are blown away and sort of overwhelmed.  The experience is a blur.  It doesn’t sink in.  You don’t absorb much of the whole thing.  I can’t even remember half of it even after the fact, what we did that week.  I don’t even remember going over and putting the car in there.  It was just all so much of a flash.
            So now I realize that.  I’m surrounded by so many great people.  We got a great team.  So many people are able to enjoy this.  I’m reminded to let it sink in, reminded to enjoy it.  I really enjoyed driving down in front of the fans there.  I was having the time of my life inside that car going down the front straightaway.
            When I got to Victory Lane, I couldn’t wait to hug everybody, just enjoy it.  Didn’t do that the first time ’cause you’re just blown away.
            So this one’s funner (laughter).
            Q.  Rick, I imagine fielding cars for NASCAR’s most popular driver is quite a responsibility.  It must feel frustrating that you don’t have more success, you always give your best stuff to Jimmie, let Jimmie win all the time, according to the fans.
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I’m glad I’m sitting here.  I want to hear this (laughter).
            Q.  I don’t say it.  The fans do.
            RICK HENDRICK:  They’ve never said it to me.  You’re the only one that said it.
            Q.  Dale told Michael Waltrip if he wins the Daytona 500 he’s going to get on Twitter.
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  You’re paying attention.  I got to get my password (laughter).
            Q.  Do you feel any relief or satisfaction in getting this win with him?  Can you talk a little bit about the burden that you do feel in needing to have success with Dale Jr.?
            RICK HENDRICK:  You know, I think Dale had a lot of options when he was going to make a change.  We talked.  He wanted to come with us.  I wanted him to come with us.
            It was a lot of pressure, an awful lot of pressure, an awful lot of high expectations.  We didn’t have the success that we thought we’d have.
            I remember a lot of you said, He’ll win six races and a championship.  We came down here and we won the Shootout and qualifier right out of the gate.  We didn’t go where we needed to go.
            But we never gave up.  I was as determined as ever.  I told him that we would get it right and we would do what we set out to do, and we were not going to stop.
            But it’s a lot of pressure.  It was an awful lot of pressure.  I felt like I let him down.  He felt like he let me down.  But we locked arms and said, We’re going to figure it out.
            Last year was a great year.  I wish the success had come earlier.  But this is a tough sport.  I mean, it is a tough, tough sport.  There’s so much talent out there.
            Just like he said, it’s that little magic with the car, it’s also that magic with the guys here, with the team.  When you hit it, it’s amazing.  When Jimmie Johnson goes two years and doesn’t win a championship, something’s wrong.  Well, there’s nothing wrong; it’s just everybody else is that good.
            They’ve got that magic, and these guys have that magic.  I think this could be the year.
            Q.  Dale, Brad Keselowski was here earlier and he said that he thought this may have been one of the hardest‑run Daytona 500s from start to finish.  You’ve obviously been in a lot more than he has.  I wondered if you felt something similar.  If so, was it just being the Daytona 500, points don’t matter, or sitting around for six and a half hours?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I think it was the package, the way you were having to race to stand your ground.  I hated to do some of the things I had to do tonight to race.  There were a couple laps where I had to run Jeff Gordon right on the fence, down the turns, the straightaway, right on his door, to keep him from drafting by me.  I hate to do that to my teammate.  I hate to do that to anybody.  But that’s what it took.  That’s what you had to do.
            I knew, like we had talked about before, I talked to Steve about how we were not in the right place at the end of these other races.  We’d make a move and finish second.  We knew we didn’t have a shot at winning, knew we didn’t have a shot at the leader at the end.  Why?  What do we need to do?
            Tonight it was all about not giving an inch, not running fifth, not sitting there in fifth place all night and being okay with it.  We wanted to be in the lead every lap, be in first every lap.  Th
at’s what my motive was.
            It was a unique race.  I feel uncomfortable sitting here bragging that I drove my ass off or ran the best race of my life, but it was a unique race.  We all were pushing the envelope out there, asking a lot of each other.  I remember running real, real tight on the door of the 16 car for the lead.  He had the 20 behind him.  I just kept thinking, All it’s going to take is for Matt to make one move a little wide into the corner or something like that, catch my quarter panel, turn me into the 16, we’re going to be up in the wall.
            Every lap you’re asking every driver around you to be able to hold their line and be smart and see what’s happening and understand how close quarters were.  Everybody was shoving all over each other, climbing over the top of each other.  So you were asking a lot of everybody around you to be able to do that all night long.
            We all really put each other in a lot of difficult situations, but it was really fun even under the circumstances.  I felt like that for the first time in a long time you were able to see just how talented everybody out there was.  Biffle and all those guys, everybody was really bringing the best out of themselves tonight.
            Q.  Steve, I’ve had many veteran drivers say over the years how much they have spent time trying to win the Daytona 500.  Even Dale Jarrett who was in here earlier.  Once they accomplish that goal, the first thing they think of is how they win the next one.  You decided to take another career path.  Is this the optimal way to go out or do you think you might have some second thoughts?
            STEVE LETARTE:  I mean, it’s better than losing.  Yeah, I mean, I was telling my wife last night, we were riding to dinner.  We were just talking about stuff.  I said, It’s a little sad.  I never really put two and two together.  When you think about making that decision, you know, so many things that are so important in my life that drove that decision.  Going to dinner last night, I’m a little sad, this will be my last 500.
            I think I’m going to have a lot of those moments this year.  I’ve done this since I was a 16‑year‑old kid.  I don’t know anything else.  The joke with my team when you go anywhere, if you want to know where to eat, I’ve grown up at all these tracks.  Everyone has a bucket list, and you don’t work in racing without having the Daytona 500 on your bucket list.
            It seems a little bit surreal or awkward, but it appears that a career‑defining moment came in my last chance at it.  Like I said earlier, it’s one of the those things that they might say I won X amount of races as a crew chief, but Daytona 500 champion will always be set out of that list.  This one was special.  I’m going to enjoy this one, for sure.
            Q.  Dale, you talked about trying to remember more of this experience.  You mentioned driving in the car with the fans.  What stood out about that?  That’s your moment by yourself.  Also, obviously great moment, you’re excited.  When is the last time you felt like that?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  The last time I won the Daytona 500.  You win other races.  Other good things happen to you in life.  But this is a unique feeling.  It only comes with this particular win.
            You know, the fans are so supportive.  They stick with you.  We put them through so much.  We ask so much of them to plug into this sport, to be a part of it.  You think about that.
            Then you think on a smaller scale of your personal fans, the fans that pull for your team, what I’ve went through as a driver.  You know, the lows you go through, they’re with you.  They’re with you in the highs, obviously.
            We went through some pretty bad lows.  They’re still there.  I know when I drove down that front straightaway, I know it wasn’t, but it seems like everybody that was here was cheering.  I know we don’t have every fan out there, but it was certainly a happy crowd.  I really feed off of that.  That is as key to the moment, enjoying the moment as anything.  That’s as key to the moment as going to Victory Lane, seeing your crew, seeing Rick, seeing my girlfriend.
            All those moments where you see joy in someone else’s face during this evening, seeing all that in all those fans, you feed off of that so much.  You’ll never forget that, just looking up into the grandstands, seeing all those people cheering, so happy.
            Especially when you get the flag, you get right up on ’em.  Like they’re coming through the fence, you know.  It’s just incredible, the energy from that side of the racetrack.
            Q.  How much fun can the next 25 races be, being able to swing for the fences?  How can you use that to build momentum in trying to win a championship?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Well, I expect that we’re going to have some great racecars and some great opportunities to win.  I know that we run our guts out every week.  Steve and the guys give it all they got.  I give it all I got.  We did that last year and didn’t win any races.  We weren’t trying to be consistent.  We weren’t trying to just gather up points.  We want to win so bad because we know how important that is for our fans, how important that is to the sport, how big it would be for all the effort Rick has put into it.
            So we try every week to win.  We’ll continue to do that.  I don’t think we’ll do it any different than we’ve always done it.  Steve may be able to get in certain situations at certain tracks and make a different call that he would typically make.  I anticipate that, look forward to that.
            For the most part, the tracks and the tire wear and things like that will really dictate the strategy he uses regardless of the format, the points, the Chase, all that.
            You want to do whatever you can to win the race, and that’s dictated by the track, the tires, fuel mileage, what have you.  I don’t think our approach is going to change a lot.
            But we have a lot of confidence coming off such a strong year, obviously winning this race.  Our confidence couldn’t be higher.  Confidence is a great thing.  It’s half of the battle, you know, being confident in what you’re doing.  When you have the most, you’re in perfect situations to have some good things happen, so hopefully we can seize the moment.
            Q.  Rick, when you rode Jimmie’s car into Victory Lane, you said you never would do it again.  What possessed you to do it again tonight?
   &
nbsp;        RICK HENDRICK:  When I got to the car, he said, Get in.  I was so excited, I got in.  When we got to that corner at the gate, I couldn’t hold on inside.  The roll bar was slick or something.  I almost fell out.  I was hollering, Stop.  I almost didn’t come in here tonight.  Probably would have been over to Halifax.
            I won’t do it anymore.  I better not say that.  But I think the emotion just got me as soon as I got to the window.
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Need to learn how to get those side windows out, that way you can ride in the passenger seat.
            RICK HENDRICK:  As soon as I got over there, he said, Climb in.  I didn’t even think about it.  I’ll think about it again because I almost fell out.  I was wedged in with Jimmie.  My legs were wedged up under the steering wheel.  Riding like I was riding a bull.  This time I almost did fall out.
            Q.  Steve, what do you think it will be like a year from now when you’re not going to be able to defend this?
            STEVE LETARTE:  Oh, I have no idea.  I think I’m going to come back and get my car back.  Maybe I’ll come back and get it when they give it to us next year.
            I don’t know.  There’s a lot of water to pass under the bridge between now and then.  There’s still 35 other trophies to get.  There’s a big one at the end of the year.  I’m going to really, really enjoy this victory.
            But it’s kind of like Dale said, winning reminds you how great this sport is, why we all did it, why we’re all here.  It’s really as simple as that.  It seems odd, but that’s really what it comes down to.
            We don’t play in stick and ball sports.  A .500 year doesn’t exist with a race team.  You go and you compete against 42 other people.  Every Sunday you line up.  Nobody cares what you did last week.  It’s all about what you’re going to do this week.  You have that same sort of feeling.  You want to go and win every single week.
            That’s my biggest concern about next year is what is going to fill the competitive void because it’s all I’ve known since I was a kid.  We’ll see if my kid’s go‑kart will fill the void or not.  I think he’s going to be a tougher boss than this one.  I’m going to have to sharpen up a little bit before then.
            Q.  Dale, I wanted to talk about your teammates a little bit.  With around 10 to go, even when the lanes forced a separation, you had a clear commitment to work with each other.  How much of a difference do you think they made down the stretch?  How much did they keep your confidence up, especially Jimmie being in the same shop after all these second‑place finishes?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Jeff pushing us on the last restart was key to us winning the race, a key moment for us to pull away, not get stuck side‑by‑side with the outside lane.  We timed that perfectly.  He did a great job.  That was definitely a very big moment for the victory there.
            You know, our teammates, they’re all great guys to begin with.  The reason why we all get along so well and tend to want to work with each other and even seek each other out at times on the track at Talladega and Daytona is because of the culture in the company.
            There’s no favorite.  No one’s singled out.  No pressure on one guy more than the other.  Everybody has the same commitment, whether it be the fabricators or the engine room.  Every team sort of gets the same commitment.
            It’s a very well‑run machine.  Just the culture in there, how everybody enjoys working together, we feed off of that.
            We see each other quite a bit.  Rick has us over there often for luncheons, what have you, in the shop.  We actually spend time with each other.  I’ve known Jimmie since he first started racing in the Nationwide Series, St. Louis since he ran his first race.  I’ve known Jeff forever, back when him and daddy were partners in several business ventures together.
            Dad introduced me to Jeff on the first straightaway at north Wilkesboro one time, told me he was going to be great.  Me and Kasey have been friends since when I started.  You know all these people because you’ve been around them for so long.  We’re all in great stuff.  Rick keeps everybody happy.  We enjoy seeing each other doing well and enjoy working together.
            The package tonight made you have to depend on people.  You couldn’t do things by yourself.  You definitely needed people to help pass other people.  You know you could count on your teammates to give that to you if you could get in a lane with them.
            As far as Jimmie being a good teammate, when we won when I was working with Tony, Jr., we won at Michigan.  It was my first win with Rick.  When Jimmie came into Victory Lane, the first thing I could think of to say to him is, I’m a winner.  He said, I know you are.
            Jimmie has always been one of my biggest fans.  Even before we were in the same shop, you know.  Like I said, I’ve known him for a very long time, before he was a champion, when he was just getting starting, he was wondering what kind of motorhome to buy.
            It’s been a long road for both of us.  He enjoys seeing me do well and I feel the same way about him.  So we got a great relationship.  It’s really great to be in the same shot together.  We feed off of their success.  I think they do the same with us.  Hopefully we can continue that.
            Q.  Dale, go back to the final lap.  The appearance was that no matter what Denny Hamlin did, you seemed to know what he was going to do before he did it.  Can you talk a little bit about that last lap.  And, Rick, did you hold your breath for a minute or did you just feel confident the whole time the checkered flag was coming?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I think I knew what had to happen for us to be passed, and I knew what I needed to do to combat that.  I needed to be in front of the cars that were moving to get a draft push from them, keep some separation, not allow them to get a run on me, whether it was the 2 car or Denny, whoever was going to come with a run.  I needed to be in front of them when they got there, limit their opportunities around me.
            Denny came pretty close.  He got very close coming off of turn four.  I didn’t know if he had enough to get to the quarter panel.&n
bsp; If he even sniffed on the quarter panel, he was going to get a hell of a run to the flag stand.  It was going to be tight.
            He’s obviously very good.  They ran well this week.  Won a couple races.  Showed their speed, his talent.  I knew when he come up through there, that’s what I was expecting, somebody to get up there and make a move.  He’s been able to show all week that he’s had a great racecar and knows what to do with it.
            RICK HENDRICK:  Yeah, this race you’re never confident.  I thought we were in good shape.  Those cautions kept falling.  We had to have those restarts.  You worry about that.
            I thought when he got that good push from Jeff that we were going to be in good shape.  But you just don’t count this race until you see the car come off the fourth corner, and the car running second on the outside can’t get to him.
            It’s an unbelievable feeling.  I bet if you had a heart monitor, you’d be amazed at what your pulse was that last couple laps.  I know your knees get weak when it’s over.
            I’ve been there so many times down here leading coming off the four, and wade ’em up.  So it was good to see that thing out front by itself.  I was very nervous.
            Q.  Where is the party tonight?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I’m going to try to keep myself under control some, good shape tomorrow.  I’m going to have a few beers, spend time with my girlfriend Amy and whoever else wants to sit around.  See where the night goes.
            Probably won’t be able to party till we get to Vegas after Phoenix.  I’m going to Vegas straight from Phoenix on Sunday.  That might be our time to celebrate.
            RICK HENDRICK:  It’s five hours past my bedtime.
            Q.  You said you put yourself in some situations that you had to in order to win.  Is that kind of the mindset you’re going into this whole year with knowing it’s Steve’s last year and knowing you’re starting to get closer to the end of your career than the beginning?  Are you at that point where, in order to fulfill your dreams of winning a championship, you’re going to have to be more aggressive than you normally like to be?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  We were running second every week, running in the top 10 throughout the Chase pretty much.  We were getting cars that were completely superior to what you had at the beginning of the season.  Hell, what I had at the beginning of the season was pretty good.
            Just when you think things are as good as they can get, they get better.  That’s been the situation with this team since me and Steve got together.  We’ve gotten better every year.  We said we were going to get better and we have.  We get closer and closer and closer to reaching our goals without any kind of setbacks or pauses.  So, you know, if things just keep going like they’ve been going, we should win some more races this year and the cars should be there and the confidence should be there.
            I’m perfectly comfortable forcing my way in any situation when I know the car’s capable of carrying its load and doing its job.  Steve knows that.  I think that gives him motivation to try to give me those cars.
            We were starting to see that happen last year.  Looking forward to this year.
            KERRY THARP:  Congratulations on this win tonight.
 
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – TOP ROOKIE FINISHER EARNING A NINTH-PLACE FINISH
KERRY THARP:  Also joining us right now is our top‑finishing Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, Austin Dillon. Solid run for you here today.  Maybe talk about your race.
 
AUSTIN DILLON:  Yeah, I think the yellow stripes on the bumper showed a little bit tonight.  But we made it through it.
 
It was fun.  I had a blast.  The car was fast.  After we got in the wreck, I don’t know how we didn’t hit the wall.  Had a little damage, but was just a lot freer after that.  Car was still fast, just a little loose.
 
All in all, it was a great start for our season, and hopefully we can carry it.
 
KERRY THARP:  We’ll continue with questions.
Q.  Austin, are the stars kind of aligned?  You had the No. 3 on the track, and Dale Jr. wins the race.  Talk about that.
AUSTIN DILLON:  Yeah, it’s very awesome.  Junior has been so supportive of me bringing back the 3.  I’ve gone to him for a lot of advice lately.  I can’t thank him enough.  He’s been awesome to me.  It made this whole transition a lot easier.  If we didn’t have him onboard, it would have definitely been tough to do this.
 
I want to thank him and congratulate him.  That was an awesome race.  He led a ton of laps.
 
For me, he’s been a little bit of a bigger brother right now.  It’s been pretty cool.
Q.  Austin, did you have contact with Larson and Newman on those accidents?  What happened?
AUSTIN DILLON:  Yeah, I had contact with both of them.  The 31, I had a run and everything was good.  I don’t know.  I haven’t seen a replay of either one of them really.
 
His rear bumper cover was off, I barely touched him.  It turned him to the left quick.  Definitely didn’t want to do that, he’s my teammate.  I think I touched the 1, it backed him up.  It happened quick.  Like I said, getting aggressive, 10 to go, just trying to make something happen.  It was hard once you got back up there to get back up front if you weren’t making moves to side draft.
 
Hopefully I can take this, go to Talladega and do a little better.
Q.  Austin, does this 10th‑place finish take some of the pressure off of you as a rookie or do you have just as much pressure facing you in Phoenix and Las Vegas?
AUSTIN DILLON:  I don’t think so, man.  It’s such a long year.  We got to keep the pressure on as far as our team.  We want to do well.  We got a lot of goals we need to accomplish.
Superspeedway racing is so much different than the mile‑and‑a‑half’s and the short tracks.  We have a lot to learn.  That’s what this year is about:  experience, trying to finish races and getting better each week.
 
We have a long year ahead of us.  I’d like to use some of this momentum going forward.  I know it’s going to be a long, tough year and hopefully we’ll be there to the end of these races and try to learn something.
 
KERRY THARP:  Congratulations on a successful Speedweeks.
 

Chevy Racing–2/22/14–Daytona–Jimmie Johnson

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 22, 2014
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed the process of getting a third car ready for the Daytona 500 after being involved in a crash in Thursday’s Budweiser Duel race, his thoughts on how the Daytona 500 will play out on Sunday and many other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
NOT THE FINISH TO THE DUEL THAT YOU WOULD LIKE, BUT COMING INTO THE DAYTONA 500 WHAT IS GOING TO BE YOUR FOCUS TODAY AS YOU GET PREPARED FOR TOMORROW?
“Just getting some more laps on this race car.  We have been very impressed and happy with the speed this third car has had. Not a situation we wanted to be in by any means, but I wasn’t aware of the preparation and our car count coming down here.  Obviously we want to bring our best two race cars and we felt that was the case.  But we brought two cars that we had a lot of success with last year and a build on those cars that were last year’s kind of mindset and technology.  Some of our teammates built new vehicles and brought them down here and they have had a little speed on us even through qualifying.  I wasn’t aware that we had a generation car like this and that is what is our third back-up is.  With our single car runs yesterday the car had a few tenths more speed in it than our best car, the car that we had slated for the Daytona 500.  So with all that it is nice to have the speed and we will take it from there.  We will go out today and make some more single car runs, make sure we get the attitude of the car right and there aren’t any tires rubs or any of that kind of stuff that can plague you and take it from there.”
 
CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH THE PROCESS AFTER THURSDAY WHEN YOU WENT TO THE THIRD CAR?
“Chad (Knaus, crew chief) always has a plan.  When I left the infield car center I went to the bus and I didn’t know anything until the next morning.  I walked in for practice and there was a painted No. 48 car sitting there.  I assumed it would be a wrap around the car and we unloaded a No. 88 car or No. 24.  That is kind of how we have been in year’s past.  We will build two and focus on Phoenix and Vegas and really the rest of the season.  I knew there would be a car, but I thought it would be a sticker wrap instead of a paint job.  I was pleasantly surprised to see it was paint.  I knew that of course Chad had his bases covered.  Then it really just boiled down to what kind of speed the car had in it.  That was a welcome surprise to see that it was a little quicker than the car we had slated for the (Daytona) 500.”
 
WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT WINNING THIS RACE AND WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO PUT YOURSELF IN POSITION TO WIN?
“Plate racing is so different than the racing we all grow up doing.  Competing, perfecting and then just working on that skill set.  Here we have heard the comparisons to playing chess and it kind of is that way.  You spend more time playing defense and your defensive moves and blocks create your opportunity to pass and to win.  Then the timing of when people’s decisions behind you when they take place and if you are able to block it, it gives you that surge down the backstretch or through (turns) three and four that brings you to the finish line.  So it is just different, it’s a different mindset and I think you have to work really hard to change your mind set at these four tracks in order to be successful.  All that being said (Dale) Earnhardt (Sr.) would probably be the exception to that with how many plate races he won and how long it took to win down here.  I think he just had a black cloud over him for all those years and wasn’t able to get it.  It’s a totally different mindset of racing.”
 
IN THE FIRST THREE CUP RACES WE HAVE SEEN HERE THERE WAS NOT A LAST LAP PASS FOR THE VICTORY.  WILL WE LIKELY SEE ANY LAST LAP PASS FOR THE VICTORY TOMORROW OR IS THE NEW CAR MAKING THAT MORE DIFFICULT?
“I’ve been surprised when I’ve been in second how little of a run I have had at the leader.  I’ve felt like this taller spoiler would increase that closing rate and really help out.  It’s created that opportunity further back in the pack and there is a lot more energy in the meat of the pack, but near the front there has been a little less closing rate.  No necessarily closing rate, but when you pull out I guess the air gets on that tall spoiler and it is just like throwing a parachute and it stops you.  The other component to that is I think we have crashed before we had a chance to get to the stripe.  The Unlimited there just wasn’t a big enough field to create the energy and then us running out of gas prevented the opportunity for something to take place in the duel.”
 
IT’S BEEN 10 YEAR’S SINCE DALE EARNHARDT, JR. WON THE DAYTONA 500 AND HIS LAST PLATE WIN WAS 2004.  DO YOU SINCE ANY FRUSTRATION FROM HIM HAVING FINISHED SECOND IN THREE OF THE LAST FOUR DAYTONA 500’S?  WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT HIM PLATE RACING 10 YEARS AGO THAT MADE HIM SO DOMINANT?
“Definitely know he’s irritated by not winning.  I mean he’s an extremely competitive guy and wants to win.  I know last year he was probably a lap or two away from having a shot at the win, just kind of ran out of distance.  Made a great move and got to second and he’s very sharp and understands how to set up a pass for the win.  I know he wants to win and I know he’s irritated that he’s been so close.  I guess it maybe boil into a little bit of frustration.  He’s a competitive guy and wants to win.
 
“The difference, you know things have changed so much with the draft.  I feel like last year’s combination was very similar to the generation of car when Junior won.  I know that the ‘13 rules package felt a lot like the ’06, ’07 in that time frame in what the cars did and how they react and how you set up passes.  I want to say even Junior’s stats reflect that.  I know mine certainly do.  There was kind of a dry spell through some of the gen-5 stuff especially the push drafting a lot of DNF’s, although we did have one win, but our average is way down.  I’m not sure you would probably have to ask him, but I think we have similar reasons why our style of drafting fits the gen-6 car and maybe his stats reflect that too.”
 
WHEN YOU HEAR CRITICISM THAT YOUR DOMINANCE AND YOUR SIX CHAMPIONSHIPS IN EIGHT YEARS IS DETRIMENTAL TO NASCAR AND THE INDUSTRY WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THAT CRITICISM?
“It is a short sided comment.  There are so many components and pieces to our sport.  That is just a fan of another competitor with a narrow mindset or a short sided mindset.  There are so many pieces of the puzzle as we all know from the economy.  We look at the construction that is going on out here and understanding how this facility is going to be like a football stadium before long.  I was talking to Chani (Johnson, wife) about that this morning she couldn’t believe that there aren’t the mezzanine levels for concession stands and restrooms and all that stuff.  When you really break down the sport and when you know the sport there are a lot of areas that need work and everybody is addressing that.  One driver’s dominance is not the reason why.”
 

Chevy Racing–2/21/14–Daytona–Chip Ganassi

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
 
 
CHIP GANASSI, OWNER OF CHIP GANASSI RACING TEAMS WITH FELIX SABATES, met with members of the media and discussed Kyle Larson, outlook for season, state of the business of motorsports, changes NASCAR has made to qualifying, the Chase, etc., racing at Daytona and other topics. Full transcript:
 
THOUGHTS ON KYLE LARSON GOING FORWARD: “I think it is one step-at-a-time, and I thought he did a great job last night (in the Duel at Daytona). He kept his nose clean; he stayed out of trouble; he learned a lot; he went to the front; went to the back…well almost to the front…went to the back and came back to where he was, so I thought it was mission accomplished last night.”
 
TALK ABOUT HOW JAMIE MCMURRAY IS SUCH A GOOD RESTRICTOR PLATE RACER: “You know, that is a big thing, especially for a guy like Kyle coming along to have a guy like Jamie that he can ask questions to and get an honest answer.  It might not always be the answer you want it to be, but I think it will be an honest answer. I was pretty happy with that, and couldn’t be happier with how the two of them are meshing, and how the teams are meshing together…couldn’t be happier.”
 
CAN YOU RELATE TO KYLE’S SITUATION, AS YOU WERE A ROOKIE ONCE IN INDY CARS: “Well that was maybe more than 25 years ago or so. So, I don’t know.  To some extent, I think the important thing to a young guy walking through the gates here, this place can be awful daunting. It is what racing is all about…Daytona. So often times, my advice is to tell him what is important and what is not important is maybe the best advice I can give him.”
 
ON PRACTICE PLANS FOR REMAINDER OF WEEK HEADING INTO DAYTONA: “Obviously with engine changes, and the obvious ability to hurt your car between now and Sunday, I have always left that in the driver’s hands. They know where they are at. They know if they need practice. They know what they need, and they are professionals.  Nobody goes out there to crash, so I leave in their hands.”
 
DOES THIS SPEEDWEEKS SEEM MORE EXPENSIVE TO CAR OWNERS IN TERMS OF THE NUMBER OF CARS DAMAGED OR IS THIS A NORMAL COURSE OF DAYTONA? “For us, it is kind of the normal course of Daytona I would say. I don’t want it to be, but it is. You just hope and pray, Number one, you want to be at the front, and number two you want to roll your car on to the truck down here. You see that even the best teams can make mistakes, and take out the field.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGTHS THAT NASCAR HAS MADE FOR THIS SEASON – QUALIFYING, THE CHASE, ETC.? “I like them. I think it is good. I’m a fan of new things like that. When you are in it every day, week in and week out, year in and year out, it is nice to see some change, and have some change and some new ways to approach the weekend. New ways to approach the Chase. I like it. I’m all in favor of it.”
 
DOES THE FACT THERE IS MORE NIGHT RUNNING MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR RACE STRATEGY? “Whether you run all at night, or all in the day, or half day half night – it is all the same for all of the teams. So it is just a matter of adjusting your car to what it likes in that condition. It’s nothing no one has ever done before. The last time I looked, Sunday starts at 1:00 o’clock. I hope we are not running at night. But I will say, that when we did run at night, we did have some success there in 2010 as I recall.”
 
IS THERE ANY CONCERN IN THE GARAGE ABOUT CARS GETTING AIRBOURNE? “I don’t think any more than normal. I think everybody is interested in safety, I don’t think anyone wants anybody to get hurt. The fans want to see a good show. It is the same ole thing, coming to the checkered. Between turn four and the start/finish line, anything can happen.”
 
WILL YOU CONSIDER A THREE-CAR TEAM FOR 2015? “Those things kind of come and go. There are guys out there, and we’ll be in the market if something presents itself. If not, I don’t see us replacing drivers. You kind of take those things as they come and go.  You know, kind of take those things as they come and go.”
 
IS KYLE WHERE YOU THOUGHT HE WOULD BE? “I think he is showing more mature than his races would tell him. I thought he looked good in the draft. I thought he learned some things.  He popped out and went to the back, and then was mature enough to keep his nose clean and come back up to the front slowly. That showed a lot of maturity to me.”
 
THAT IS STUFF YOU HAVE SEEN OUT OF HIM BEFORE? “Somewhat. Somewhat. But, you never know until you get there.  You’ve never seen him in a Cup race at Daytona. That is a different animal.”
 
HAVE THE ECONOMICS OF RUNNING A RACE TEAM GOTTEN ANY BETTER IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS? “No. Absolutely not. What would make you think that? Costs continue to go up. Just the increase in the entry fee. Increase in hard cards…I mean just increase after increase. And we are not getting increases from our sponsors. So it puts a lot of pressure on the teams to squeeze a little tighter, and it is getting difficult.”
 
ANY GLIMMER OF HOPE ON THE HORIZON? “I don’t know. I’m waiting to hear something good out of NASCAR. A lot of team owners I know are concerned.”
 
IS KYLE AS CALM AND UNFLAPPABLE AS HE APPEARS? “He seems to be. You know you saw him last night. He shot out of the….I guess that (David) Ragan was in front of him and he checked up. Kyle scooted out of line, and went down on the inside. He said ‘I don’t know what that guy was doing there, but no problem’, he got back in line and kept going. He lost about eight or so spots.”
 
DO YOU COMPARE KYLE WITH ANYBODY ELSE THAT HAS COME ALONG IN THE LAST 10-15 YEARS?  “That is for you guys to do, not me. We have a plan we want to work our plan with him. No one ask me about any other drivers, they always ask me about my drivers, so I am not good at comparing them to other people. I only compare our drivers when their careers are over.”
 
JUAN (PABLO MONTOYA) SAID HE MIGHT WANT TO RUN THE BRICKYARD, WOULD YOU CONSIDER THAT? “I would never say never. I wouldn’t never say no to that. I think he is talking about Penske though. They  are certainly capable of doing that. He says he is enjoying it over there.”
 
WITH THE NEW TV PACKAGE STARTING NEXT YEAR, IT HAS BEEN INDICATED THAT WILL HELP PROVIDE STABILITY. IS THAT NOT THE CASE? “New revenue next year doesn’t do anything for increased costs this year. Granted, new TV should be more money. Sounds good.”
 
ARE YOU EVER GOING TO BE ABLE TO ASK SPONSORS FOR MORE MONEY AGAIN UNTIL RATINGS GO UP OR THERE IS SOME SORT OF METRIC THAT SHOWS IT IS BETTER? “I think every sponsor is different, and everyone wants something different out of the sport. Increase ratings are not just the single factor. There are lots of metrics; there are new ones all the time. I’m sure there is some sponsor in the garage that has a new metric. I’m just saying my  metrics are different than Jack Roush or Rick Hendrick or someone elses.”
 
DO YOU THINK WE WILL GET TO THE POINT TO WHERE THEY WILL AGREE TO MORE MONEY –  TO SPEND MORE? “I remember in racing when a $1 million sponsor, I’ve been around that long, when a $1 million sponsor was….I thought boy we’ll never get more than a million dollars. And every one of those increments along the way, you just think… I’m sure there is some ceiling somewhere at some time. Thank God we haven’t gotten there yet.”
 
LOOKING AT  YOUR NASCAR TENURE, WHERE YOU HAVE COME FROM…WHERE ARE YOU GOING? “I thought our team had a lot of momentum there, and then when the financial crisis hit, that took a lot of wind out of our sails for a year or two there, and it took us awhile to rebound from that. I would have been perfectly happy
if Sterling Marlin didn’t hit his head and crack his neck. I would have been perfectly happy if that didn’t happen. I would have been perfectly happy if Jack Roush didn’t come along and offer Jamie McMurray a ton of money way back when. So, you look at things… But, I’d say, given all the challenges we’ve faced during that time, I would rather have a few more wins, but we are okay.”
 
HOW FAR AWAY FROM A CHAMPIONSHIP ARE YOU? “About as far as I was a couple of years ago, or four years. I think we have the impetus now, and the time and the basis of that. We are with a good foundation now. I think we have a strong foundation now to bui8ld upon.”
 
DOES IT FEEL DIFFERENT NOW TO HAVE A DIFFERENT DRIVER?  YOU HAD THE SAME DRIVER LINEUP WITH MCMURRAY AND MONTOYA THERE FOR SEVERAL YEARS?  DOES IT CHANGE THE ENERGY OF THE TEAM A LITTLE BIT? “Any time  you bring someone new into a team, especially a driver, it changes the energy. I don’t think it is anything other than business as normal. Kyle is certainly a capable race driver. It is not like we plucked him out of or took him off a dirt track last night and brought him to Daytona. The guy certainly has plenty of experience, and plenty of racing knowledge. Race craft…it is not like we are teaching the guy. Just one degree here, one degree there is about all we are working with. We aren’t talking about major, major changes.”
 
ARE THE GIBBS CARS THAT FAR AHEAD OF EVERYBODY? “When it comes to those kinds of things, one week in Daytona doesn’t make a season. I am very cautious to start coming to conclusions there. Let’s see what happens. Certainly it is the Daytona 500 on Sunday. But let’s see what happens when we get to Phoenix, and Vegas and Bristol. We’ll start to see some trends develop. I think to start calling it now is a little premature.”
 
FOR JUST THIS WEEK ARE THEY? “Good for them. They’ve been doing a good job. Good for them.”
 
HAS YOUR ANXIETY YOU HAD ABOUT THE  HYPE AROUND KYLE SUCH AS THE SUPERSTAR COMMENTS FROM TON Y STEWART AND JEFF GORDON  SUBSIDED AS HE SETTLES IN? IT DOESN’T SEEM TO HAVE AFFECTED HIM: “Those guys are going to say what they want to say, and don’t think that those comments by those guys; those aren’t just off the cuff comments those guys make. There is a reason they make those comments. I don’t get involved in their business, and I would be perfectly happy if they didn’t get involved in mine.”

Chevy Racing–2/21/14–Daytona–Kyle Larson

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
 
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed his outlook for this Sunday’s Daytona 500, his rapid ascent into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, his relationship with teammate Jamie McMurray and many other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND:
“It’s going to be a lot of fun come Sunday.  I feel like I learned a ton last night in the second duel.  I was able to make a few moves, most that didn’t work so I learned from that.  Sunday is going to take a lot of patience’s to log some laps there for the first half of the race, then to try to position yourself good for the end of it.  We got a little front-end damage yesterday in that wreck.  My Target guys made some repairs on that stuff.  I’m sure it will be fine come Sunday.  Just really looking forward to it and hope to get a good finish.”
 
WITH JUST THE ONE YEAR OF NATIONWIDE AND NOT A TON OF TIME RUNNING WITH A LOT OF GUYS IN THIS SERIES ARE YOU FINDING THAT PEOPLE ARE COMFORTABLE WORKING WITH YOU ON THE TRACK?
“I think it’s tough for any veteran to trust a rookie like me, especially on a superspeedway.  I saw it a little bit last night where people would bail on me, which I understand.  You just have to try and be as smooth as you can and earn their trust.  That is kind of what I tried doing last night.  I felt like I kept it in a straight line most of the time. There was once where I got a little squirley, but for the most part I haven’t had any run in’s with any of the veterans yet.  I think that is good that I haven’t done that and hopefully they will work with me come Sunday.”
 
EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE BEEN RACING FOR THE MAJORITY OF YOUR LIFE DO YOU EVER WONDER OR HAVE THE FEELING THAT MAYBE YOU DID RUSH THIS STEP A LITTLE BIT?
“No, not really because everything I’ve done in my career even from the times I was racing go-karts everybody thought it might have been a rush at the time.  But then it all worked out and did really well.  I think and I’m hoping this isn’t anything different.  I’m ready for this season. I think we are going to have a strong year.  The guys at Chip Ganassi Racing have built really fast cars.  They have changed some things on the pit crew, more engineers and stuff like that.  I think it’s going to be good for me. We have done a lot of testing where not only have we been working on the cars we’ve also been working on stuff with me.  By doing fuel mileage things, pit stops and stuff like that.  So it’s going to benefit me come race season.  I think they have done a great job with me.  I think we are prepared and hopefully we can get the Rookie of the Year and have a lot of good finishes this year.”
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY YOUR TEAMMATE IS CONSIDERED A PRETTY GOOD RESTRICTOR PLATE RACER.  HAVE YOU TALKED TO HIM ABOUT MAYBE A PLAN FOR SUNDAY?   HAS HE GIVEN YOU ANY ADVICE?
“Jamie is definitely one of the best plate racers I think right now.  I have definitely leaned on him quite a bit, with just little questions and stuff.  He actually said ‘don’t feel the need to help me out all the time because a lot of times it doesn’t work out and we both go backwards.’  When it comes down to the end of the race I’m sure we will work together or try to if we are around each other.  He really just told me you have to be patient like everybody knows and pick and choose your right moves at the right times and try to go forward.”
 
IN GENERAL WHAT HAS JAMIE MCMURRAY BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?  HOW HAS HE KIND OF CLEARING THE PATH FOR YOU IN YOUR ROOKIE YEAR?
“It’s been good working with Jamie so far.  He’s probably the easiest guy to talk to in the garage or really out of anybody I’ve ever met. He’s extremely personable.  Especially when it comes to the plate races, Daytona being the first race of the season it’s easy to go to him with a lot of questions.  I’ve definitely been talking to him as much as I can whenever I have questions.  He is always willing to give me a truthful honest answer.  I think that is good for me.  There will be times too this year where I’m sure he will have questions for me.  If I’m faster than him in the weekend, I think we are going to work really well together and it’s going to be great for the both of us and great for the team.”
 
YOU ALWAYS SEEM VERY CALM.  DO YOU EVERY GET NERVOUS?  DO YOU EVER GET SCARED?  DO YOU EVER GET INTIMIDATED?
“No, I mean probably the only time I get nervous is during single car qualifying and we don’t have any of that anymore.  That will be good.  I don’t think I ever get intimidated.  Early in different series and stuff I go back to running with the World of Outlaws when I was 15 or whatever.  You line up next to guys like Sammy Swindell and Steve Kinser and you are like ‘wow this is pretty crazy’ and you can let them get under your skin pretty easy.  But then after you realize you are just as good as they are if not better than them some nights it builds your confidence and stuff.  Then you start beating them.  I’m sure I will experience a little bit of that this year.  Hopefully not too much and it should be fine.”
 
WILL YOU HAVE THAT ‘WOW’ MOMENT WHEN YOU LINE-UP NEXT TO JEFF GORDON?
“No, probably not.  I don’t think so.  I guess if you count last night this will be my sixth Cup race now.  I think the ‘wow’s’ are done.”
 
YOU DIDN’T THE FIRST TIME YOU RACED AGAINST HIM?
“No when I ran Charlotte I didn’t get that way.  I wasn’t more so ‘wow’ I’m lined up next to so and so, because I had raced with them a lot in the Nationwide Series, but the biggest thing I was excited about then was just that I’m here and in the Cup Series.  That was the biggest ‘wow’ moment for me then.”
 
WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHANGE FOR YOU?
“The biggest change for me so far, I mean there are a lot of big changes, but the one that sticks out to me the most is that all the racing I’ve done kind of growing up has been business, but has been relaxing as well.  So has this, but this is extremely, everybody on the team is extremely focused and professional.  It just seems to be really like a business more than anything.  That has been the biggest thing.  Once I get used to it, it’s all going to come easier.  It will be different and be back to feeling normal I think after I get used to things.”
 
DID YOU FIND ANYTHING AT ALL FROM COMPETING IN THE ROLEX 24 HOUR THAT WILL HELP YOU IN ANYWAY DURING THIS WEEK?
“Nothing they are really different race cars and I mean you are out there with different types of cars that are going 40 to 50 miles per hour slower than you.  You really can’t take anything from that race to help you for this one other than maybe just patience.  That would probably be the biggest thing from that.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR PARTICIPATING IN THIS MORNING’S FISHING TOURNAMENT:
“Yeah that was a lot of fun.  I enjoy fishing I just don’t go do it very often at all really.  The only time I do it or have done it was when I was living in Indiana a little bit.  Everybody has got a pond behind their house and we would fish in that.  This was a little bit different.  We didn’t catch very many fish, but still had a good time and it was for a good cause too.  Hopefully I can do it every year and get better at it.”
 
 

Chevy Racing–2/20/14–Daytona–Duel #2

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BUDWEISER DUEL NO. 2
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND
DESCRIBE THAT LAST LAP:
“Well it was a pretty calm race for the Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet team.  We were up in the top three most of the time.  It got pretty wild after the pit stop.  Me and Carl (Edwards) were having a heck of a drag race leaving pit road.  We got into a good position there and I just kept seeing everybody back up behind me trying to get that big run when the white flag came out.  I felt like we had a good shot at getting a good run as well.  They split up behind us and then it was just chaos to the end.  I made one run on the No. 41 and couldn’t quite clear him and then when we got off of (turn) four I got one more push and was able to get inside of him for a great second place finish.”
 
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT AS A RACE CAR DRIVER KNOWING THAT YOU HAVE TO SIT THERE AND BE PATIENT FOR SOMEBODY TO GO WITH YOU AND WORRY WHEN YOU DO THAT SOMEONE IS EVEN GOING TO GO?
“Yeah, it’s nerve racking.  Your heart is pounding for sure plus this is the car we want to race in the Daytona 500 so how aggressive do you want to be?  We are here to win it and we wanted to be aggressive and I feel like we were with our pit call, which was a great one.  Aggressive trying to get to pit road, aggressive in the moves we made, we just didn’t have a lot of opportunities there because we didn’t have the whole pack behind us the way we would have liked it to have been.  But hey that is Daytona racing and it was a lot of fun.  I think the fans are going to have a heck of a race for themselves on Sunday.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
WILD FINISH IN THIS ONE.  DESCRIBE THE WAY THIS RACE WENT FOR YOU GUYS:
“I had a gift from Tony Stewart.  He raced his way in and that gave us the champions provisional, which meant we could go race our car and not have to worry about side-effects.  When somebody says the green light is on I want to go.  With Gene Haas thanks to him and all this Haas Automation crew it’s fun going to race at these restrictor plate races when you don’t have to worry about racing your way in.  I tried to put on a show.  Denny Hamlin was strong. He won the race off pit road.  Who would have known that would have been where the difference maker was.  With all four of our Chevy’s lined up I thought we could get a run on them.  The problem is when you are running there second place, third place the fifth and sixth place guys are developing their plan.  I blocked Jeff Gordon once coming off turn four.  I couldn’t block him twice otherwise I would have been in the wreck.  So I have to thank everybody that is involved with this Haas Automation team Chevrolet, Monster Energy, it is going good.”
 
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 PEAK/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RACE TONIGHT AND ESPECIALLY THAT LAST LAP:
“Really good car all night.  It was our back-up car our primary (car) got wrecked yesterday, but everybody at RCR, the fab shop, body shop, ECR engines they build fast race cars as we have shown all Speedweeks.  All of our cars have been really quick.  It drove pretty good there.  We made quite a few changes actually, chassis changes, from last night to tonight.  Actually drove pretty decent, but I think there are a couple of things we can do to improve for the (Daytona) 500.  Just proud of everybody at RCR the Peaks/Menard Chevy was fast.”
 
WHAT DID YOU LEARN TONIGHT?
“That RCR builds fast plate cars. It was a back-up car, and it’s really good. We got a couple of laps in it yesterday. Wasn’t all that great I didn’t think in the draft. We changed a couple of things and it was really fast tonight. ECR motors. The RCR Peak/Menards Chevy was really fast. Just really looking forward to getting in the 500 and keeping this thing clean for 490 and go race like hell the last 10.”
 
BRIAN SCOTT, NO. 33 WHITETAIL CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON EARNING A SPOT IN THIS YEAR’S DAYTONA 500:
“Well you know I’m just really excited.  The first part of the race we were just riding fourth and I thought it would be great if the whole race will go this way.  I knew that pit stops would shake it up.  We kind of committed to the bottom and we got the outside groove to go around us and we fell to the back.  I knew it would get exciting there at the end.  I’m just proud that we were able to get the Whitetail Chevrolet back towards the front and finish fifth and get us a good starting spot in the Daytona 500.”
 
HOW DID YOU SEE THAT LAST LAP UNFOLD?
“Well I saw my teammate Paul (Menard) he went down to the bottom and Billy O’Dea my spotter has got a lot of experience.  He said ‘go with him, go with him’ so we went with him and it started jostling in front of us and we were just trying to get our run going.  Coming out of turn four I caught something just in my mirror it was like sparks and stuff.  I kind of looked up and I saw them all wrecking behind me.  Then I knew that our fate was sealed and that it was nice to have the good Lord looking down on us to keep us safe and to bring us to the start/finish line with relatively no damage.”
 
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
DESCRIBE THE LAST LAP FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW:
“Cars spinning and crashing into the wall and nowhere to go.  I mean really that is all you can say about it.  It’s unfortunate obviously, last corner, last lap to have something like that happen.  It’s not the end of the world.  We’ve got a good back-up car and it doesn’t matter really where you start here.  It is what it is.  Guys will get to work on the back-up I guess tonight and get ready for Sunday.”

YOUR EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW HAVING HAD A FRONT ROW STARTING SPOT:
“It stinks for the guys who have worked so hard on that car, and have a great race car, only to have that happen on the last corner of the last lap. Somebody running out of gas is kind of like you never really think that can happen. It is what it is.  We’ll get our back-up out to race. It doesn’t matter where you start anyhow. We’ll be fine; I just hate it for the guys and got the front row starting spot. That was all their work, and it stinks that they can’t keep it. It is all good. Restrictor plate racing, it is what it is.  Unfortunately 90% of the time you get caught up in other people’s mistakes, and that’s what happened tonight. It happens. It’s part of the deal. We’ll just get ready to go racing on Sunday.”

DO YOU KNOW HOW YOUR BACKUP WILL BE?
“They say it is just as good. So I’m sure it will be fine. The car was good tonight. I was just kind of hanging out there. At the end, my brother got a lap down, somehow lost the draft and I got him in front of me, and I just pushed him the rest of the race to help and see if I could get him in. So my main concern right now is to figure out if he even made it. So I am going to go find out.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 11TH
WHAT HAPPENED?
“I wasn’t real sure. I had my hands full obviously trying to gather my car up. But I thought I saw a car flip and then when the wreck was all over and I came back on pit road, I didn’t see any cars that had appeared that they had flipped. So that was really lucky that Clint (Bowyer) was able to land on his feet.
 
HOW ARE YOU, PHYSICALLY? YOUR CAR IS OBVIOUSLY TORN UP:
“Yeah, our McDonald’s Chevy is torn up. We had a good car and I felt like we were in a good position in the end. I felt like I was far enough back that Jeff (Gordon) and Jimm
ie (Johnson) and those guys would make a move and maybe I could just try to suck back up to the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin). The No. 27 (Paul Menard) started the inside lane earlier than I think than what we wanted to. And then, once we got to Turns 3 and 4, I was content on just pushing Jimmie and I didn’t know what happened. I saw him just swerve to get out of the way and things happen so fast when you’re going that quick on the track. You make a decision and you just have to stick with it. I’m glad to hear that he was out of gas because I felt like I had caused that entire wreck. It’s frustrating. But we’re going to unload our Unlimited car that I thought was actually a little bit quicker than this car. So, we’ll unload that and get a little bit of practice in and put a fresh engine in it and look forward to the Daytona 500.”
 
ON THE FINISH:
“It was a wild finish When we got to Turns 3 and 4, we were just side-drafting each other. I was content on just pushing Jimmie to the start/finish line. I thought I could probably get a big run and maybe get to second and third. And then I guess he ran out of gas is what they’re saying. When he started getting out of the way I went to get underneath of him and when a car turns sideways in front of you, it takes so much air off of your car that you lose control and there’s just nothing you can do about it. And then obviously there’s a huge chain reaction and you’re just fighting to stay off the fence after that.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 16TH
YOU HAD YOUR HAND OUT THE WINDOW; DID YOU RUN OUT OF FUEL?
“I did, and I feel terrible. To tear up that many race cars; to see the No. 15 flip.  I feel terrible, and certainly want to apologize to everyone.  I tried to get up out of the way; I had my hand out of the side. But last lap coming to the checkered, there is so much going on right there. So much energy in the pack that I knew I was going to get run over if I ran out because guys warned me about it – and it did. Thankfully everyone is alright, and I certainly feel bad for the torn up race cars.”

ARE YOU OKAY AND WHAT HAPPENED?
“I’m fine.  I feel terrible all these cars that were caught up in that crash.  I ran out of gas, man at the most inopportune time right in front of everybody.  I feel terrible.  Thankfully it looks like everybody is okay, but a lot of great race cars were torn up. Clint (Bowyer) flipped over.  I just feel real bad about it.  Certainly glad everybody was alright.”
 
UP UNTIL THAT POINT WHAT WAS THE RACING LIKE?  DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING THAT IS GOING TO HELP YOU ON SUNDAY?
“You definitely learn out there.  Everybody seems to want to run that top lane.  I tried to race a little bit on the bottom and slip back.  Then just kind of settled in on the top and logged some laps.  I thought I was going to bring home a great race car and then all that happened off turn four.”
 
GREG ZIPADELLI, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMPETITION AT STEWART-HAAS RACING
 
ON THE NO. 4 CAR FAILING POST RACE INSPECTION:
“The track bar had more rake in it than allowed after the qualifying race. (John) Darby and them are up top; we’ll wait for them to come down and see what it is. I guess they’re telling us we’re starting at the rear. It’s one of those areas.  There’s a rule, it’s three inches. Everybody in the garage has adjusted their cars during the race and it’s never been an issue afterward. But I mean it’s a different deal here. We need to figure that stuff out on our side and make sure we don’t put ourselves in this position again.”
 
WHAT ADVANTAGE IS IT IF ANY?
“You can dictate the rear travel, the amount the car travels by the amount of rake you have in it. That’s kind of how we got on that rule; people were coming up with just ridiculous amounts of track bar rake and it was pulling the back of the car down so they came up with this rule and you can only have three inches of rake. It doesn’t matter where. You can have it way down on the bottom if you need rear grip, you just can’t have more than three inches.
 
“It went through (inspection) that way. They go down and check you every week. It just came back with more than it was supposed to have.
 
“For something that honestly as little as it was didn’t probably amount to anything other than changing the handling characteristics of the car. We needed a little bit of an adjustment during the race. So it’s disappointing because it knocks the wind out of your sails. You had a good car, had a great run, did a great job tonight. Just a little setback. But we’ll have a few of our cars back there, we’ll team up and haul ass to the front.”
 
           
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT WITH:
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 7TH
LANDON CASSILL, NO. 40 HILLMAN RACING CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 9TH
 
KERRY THARP:  Let’s roll into our post race for our second qualifying Duel.  Our top finishing Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, coming in seventh tonight, is Kyle Larson.
            Kyle, congratulations on a strong showing.  Your thoughts about lining up now for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
            KYLE LARSON:  Yeah, it was definitely a really exciting race from my viewpoint.  The beginning we were three wide there really early in the race.  We all got in line.  I was riding around there, just logging laps.  It looked like I think it was David Ragan got tight off four.  I rolled off the gas.  I don’t know if Jamie was to my rear bumper or not, but I got a little loose, had to correct it, lost the draft for a little bit, had to catch back up.
            There late in the race, wasn’t really trying to make anything happen on the bottom, but it was how it was kind of working out.  Coming off four was pretty scary.
            Glad to stay out of that wreck and come away with a seventh place finish, get a better starting spot for this Target car and try and get a good finish on Sunday.
 
            KERRY THARP:  Racing his way into the Daytona 500 is Landon Cassill.  We also have Jeff Gordon who came in second tonight.
            Landon, tell me about your excitement about racing your way into the Daytona 500.
            LANDON CASSILL:  I’ve been stressed out about this since July.  I think I’ve played this race over in my head, what I think it could do, for months now.
            The team, Hillman Racing, we came down for the test and felt like we had a decent car, but we didn’t have the motor that we were going to race.  They came back and made some serious investments in it.  For a small team, this race kind of makes our whole season, just the prize money alone to start on Sunday gets us through the next six or seven weeks.
            It’s just huge for us.  Carsforsale.com jumped onboard to help us out for this weekend.  We have a big deal we’re really working on, good people that we’re talking to, just this positive accomplishment is going to help tremendously.
            The team is just so pumped up.  I’m really proud of them.  M
ike Hillman and Joe Falk have put a ton of faith in me, probably too much.  I can’t appreciate it more.
 
            KERRY THARP:  Jeff Gordon, talk about this Duel here tonight.  A lot of drama on the last lap.  Talk about your outlook now for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
            JEFF GORDON:  It’s always interesting when you watch the first Duel.  Never fails, if that one is really exciting, then the second one can be a little more calm.  If the first one is calm, the second one can be more exciting.
            Looks like they were shaking it up a little bit more in the first one, guys trying to get the lead.  In our race we seemed to be content to wait till the end.
            I thought it was going to happen with three to go.  Looks like it didn’t materialize until one to go.
            I’m really happy with our racecar.  I think we snuck in there with a quiet, under the radar, very fast car that’s capable of winning this race.  I like it that way.  Let some of those other guys get all the attention and get that target on their back.  And hopefully we can just go along our week working hard to get in that perfect position on Sunday.
            But, no, I was trying to make something happen there at the end.  They just kept stacking up behind us, backing up the pace, trying to get some big runs.  I tried to back up to Jimmie.  I know he was backing up.  Guy behind him was backing up.
            Finally on the white flag lap, the 27 pulled out.  That’s what happens.  You stack it up like that, further back, guys are going to say, Hey, somebody has to make a move here.  He did.
            We had big runs, but never big enough runs to get to Denny.  I was happy to get that big run to get by Kurt to get to second.  You want to try to move forward to keep the momentum going, so that was a really good run for us.
 
            KERRY THARP:  Questions.
 
            Q.  Landon, with this race being so important for you, what is your strategy?  Is it to be safe and avoid what happened in the end?  What happened to your face?
            JEFF GORDON:  Did you really just ask that (laughter)?
            LANDON CASSILL:  I’ll answer your first question first.
            I think we kind of will celebrate, take a deep breath, then treat Sunday like a typical superspeedway race for a team like ours.  We have a speedway car that’s a pretty good car for our team and we’d like to take it to Talladega in one piece.
            It’s also important for us to get good points from Daytona to carry us once the 2013 points are no longer in effect, which I think is really only three races.
            We’d love to come out there and win the Daytona 500, but the priority is to bring it home in one piece.
            As far as my eye, I was riding my bicycle in Daytona on Saturday and got hit by a car.  It was pretty bad, but I’m all right now (smiling).
            JEFF GORDON:  Good question.
            LANDON CASSILL:  Thank you.  Any other questions?  NASCAR medical?  Everybody good?
 
            Q.  Did you go to the hospital?
            LANDON CASSILL:  Yeah.  Got checked out and released.  Got approved by NASCAR medical on Sunday before I qualified to race.
            It’s actually healed pretty well.  I’m really lucky.  Got some road rash on my arms and legs.  Inside of my knees were bruised up pretty badly.  But my face took most of the fall.  Just the chin.
            It’s okay, Jeff.  Your face is cool, man.  It’s all good.  Just sitting there with your face.
            JEFF GORDON:  I was riding my bike the week before I came down to Daytona and I was thinking about that, I could have gotten hit by a car.
            LANDON CASSILL:  I don’t know.  It’s dangerous.
 
            Q.  Whose fault was it?
            LANDON CASSILL:  Unfortunately, it was the motorist’s fault.  I mean I blame myself a lot for the position I put myself in.  I was in the bike lane and had the right of way.  It’s really not funny, I could have gotten really hurt.
            But, yeah, I was in a bike lane.  The woman was trying to cross the road from a side street and cleared herself to the right, kind of rolled the stop sign, I believe, T boned me really.  Destroyed my bike.  Face plant, blood.  But I made the Daytona 500 and she doesn’t know that.
 
 
            Q.  Jeff, based on what you’ve seen, the Gibbs cars are three for three.  Have you got anything for them or are they clearly the prohibitive favorites for Sunday?
            JEFF GORDON:  If you’re going to pick a favorite, I would consider them the favorites.  They’re very fast.  They won both races today.  They won the Unlimited.
            I don’t know if that means anything, but I would definitely say they’re very quick and very capable of winning this race, along with 42 other guys (smiling).
 
            KERRY THARP:  Finishing third tonight is Kurt Busch.
            Congratulations on the performance here tonight with a new race team.  I heard you on the television talking about the excitement of starting now the Daytona 500 for this new race team.
            KURT BUSCH:  What a fantastic night for the Haas Automation Chevy.  Thanks to Gene Haas for giving me this shot.  Building a team over the off season with Daniel Knost, it’s been a great progression.  To deliver on our first night a top five finish, that’s solid.
            I got to race my way tonight, and that was due to Tony Stewart locking himself into the Daytona 500 the first race.  That meant we had the champion’s provisional on the 41 car if we needed it.  I was able to hammer down and race to the front.
            It was solid execution, though, on Daniel’s part, the crew chief, with our pit strategy, the dra
ft playing into our hands, except for just that last lap.  I wish I would have had a shot to win.  Had Jeff Gordon and a Chevrolet behind me, Jimmie Johnson there, McMurray.  When those fifth and sixth place guys get dicey, you haven’t made a move yet, it’s going to be tough to generate enough speed to clear the leader.
            Coming off turn four, I had to block Jeff Gordon high.  If I had to block him low, I would have been involved in the wreck as well.  I took the approach of let’s protect our car at that last moment and it brought home as many Chevys as we could in that top five.
            It’s a great start for us.  Thanks to Gene Haas and Tony Stewart.  Away we go.
 
            KERRY THARP:  Questions.
 
            Q.  Now that you’ve been with the team for a little bit, has the experience been what you’ve hoped so far?  Does anybody have anything for the Gibbs Toyotas that look so strong?
            KURT BUSCH:  You know, it’s been everything I would have hoped it to be.  It’s a first class organization that’s built on a championship foundation with Tony Stewart’s name, with Gene Haas, the partnership there is as solid as it’s ever been.
            The four cars that we brought to Daytona didn’t qualify where we wanted to, now it’s time to race.  This is where you roll your sleeves up.  This is when the communication really starts clicking within the team.  So you lean on the crew chief, Daniel Knost, the lead engineer Wes, then it goes right on down the train.
            It was great to execute tonight flawlessly and bring home a top five finish, put that checkmark next to the 41’s number to say, Hey, we’re in the great American race in style, we’re prepared and ready to do this.
            Those Gibbs guys, they’re strong.  I’ve been coming down here 15 years.  You see cars qualifying really well and some of them don’t race well.  Then you see guys that don’t qualify well and they race really well.  I’m starting to draw some conclusions.  I’m not the smartest guy, maybe it’s taken me way longer to figure this out than most, the Gibbs cars, those Toyotas, don’t throw in all that snake oil and magic for qualifying.
            If you’re 18th on your own, like Matt Kenseth was on his own, Denny Hamlin was 23rd, that’s pretty strong when you’re going with basically your package you’re going to race with.  So now it’s shown up three times.  Denny Hamlin has two wins, Kenseth has a win, those Gibbs guys are on their game.
 
            Q.  You’re not going to have help early in the race from your teammates because they start in the back.
            KURT BUSCH:  What did Harvick do?
 
            Q.  His car failed inspection.
            KURT BUSCH:  That’s not good.  Maybe there was a 12 pack in the trunk.
 
            Q.  That was almost the way he said it, too.
            KERRY THARP:  Track bar over three inches.
 
            Q.  So you’re going to have to make new friends.
            KURT BUSCH:  For us, Gene Haas came over and patted the hood of the car.  It was his name on the hood of the car.  It says Haas Automation, and the car doesn’t have a scratch on it.  I’ve never seen a guy that doesn’t say much show so much with that one genuine pat of the hood on his car, in the top 10 in the Daytona 500.
            It’s our best bullet on the 41 car.  It’s his pride.  It’s his Haas Automation company with the Chevy emblem and with Monster Energy onboard.  It’s what we all want on the 41.
            We’ll race from there.  I know the Stewart Haas teammates will show up.  It’s a long 500 miles.  You have pit road, you have drafting mistakes.  There are plenty of things that will mix up the field.  We’re proud to be up front in the great American race.
 
            Q.  What do you perceive is the major difference in the feel of this year’s car with the tweaking versus a year ago?  I know you were in a Chevy, but a different Chevy last year.
            KURT BUSCH:  It just seems like everybody has more things ‘scienced’ out.  There’s more speed in the cars.
            What I’ve noticed is maybe we’ve gotten so aggressive with trying to find speed that teams are starting to sacrifice stability.  When you sacrifice stability that means your cars are wandering around a little bit more.  We’ve seen some wrecks on the tri oval.  The tri oval is a corner; it’s not a straightaway.  The car is not as loaded in the tri oval as it is in the banking on turns one and two, three and four.  The car skates on the looser side or the unstable side through the tri oval.
            It’s now starting to get to the point where you got to make sure you put some comfort back in the car and not necessarily go for that raw speed.
            But it’s not like years past where the asphalt was old, it was about handling.  It’s still about raw speed, but the cars are wandering around a little bit more.
 
            Q.  Is the skating around more the 18 degrees versus the 31 degrees where you have more to grip?
            KURT BUSCH:  Yeah, you’re right.  The corners are 31 degrees of banking and it holds the car better.  The tri oval is 18, therefore it slides around a little bit more through that corner.
            KERRY THARP:  Kurt, congratulations and good luck on Sunday.
            KURT BUSCH:  Thank you.

Chevy Racing–2/20/14–Daytona–Kevin Harvick

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BUDWEISER DUEL NO. 1
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND, BUT WILL START AT THE REAR OF THE DAYTONA 500 DUE TO FAILING POST RACE INSPECTION
TAKE US THROUGH THE LAST LAP, SPECIFICALLY TURNS THREE AND FOUR TO THE START/FINISH LINE:
“Well I was prepared to go with a couple of laps to go it just depended on when they group really started getting antsy and getting tightened up as much as they could to get that run that you needed.  I had to just go whenever I thought that run was going to be the biggest.  We waited a lot longer.  Everybody I guess was waiting for me to go and then we went.  The way it all timed out we just went a little too late.  I was able to side-draft and not clear him and I knew the side-draft was going to come back and just a matter of when I got back to him it was just too late for me to get back by him.”
 
DID YOU DO THAT IMPRESSIVE SIDE-DRAFTING MOVE TOO EARLY? OR, WAS IT ABOUT THE RIGHT TIME?
“Well, the first thing I would say is thank you to Budweiser and Jimmy Johns, Outback, and everybody on these guys. And I can’t tell you how bad I want to win a race with these guys early, just to repay them for all the hard work and effort that everybody at SHR has put in. But I knew I had to go when I had the momentum. So whoever those guys got to me, I knew had to pull out, whether it was two laps or one lap. When they were jammed up the tightest, is when we had to pull out. So, I pulled out. And I thought that I’d gotten under him soon enough to where he could get back to me and kind of do like we do a long time ago in the Daytona 500 but just the timing of the side-draft was off just a little bit. And then we about both lost it because when I went up to chase him, I noticed the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne) come to the bottom. But what a great way to start Speedweeks. We’ve had two solid races and we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing and everybody on this Budweiser team and give ourselves a chance to finish the race on Sunday and hopefully we’re in the same spot.”
 
 
EXPLAIN WHAT THE SIDE-DRAFT DOES AND WHAT IT FEELS LIKE IN THE CAR:
“It’s like putting the brakes on, exactly like putting the brakes on.  When you go to go by a car basically the front air off the car that you are passing packs up against your rear spoiler and just slows the car down.  It’s very effective with this package and made for an exciting finish tonight.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED THIRD
THIRD-PLACE FINISH, BUT ONLY BY A FENDER SO YOU HAVE TO BE PLEASED WITH THE WAY THE CAR PERFORMED TONIGHT:
“Yeah, I was really happy with our Farmers Insurance Chevy.  We had speed from the start of the race.  I kind of screwed up and went to the back there at the start.  I didn’t realize everybody was going to get single file, but we caught back up through there pretty quick and had a great run.  We were really close.  Tried to stick with Kevin (Harvick) there and Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) was behind us and we just about got it.  It was close, it was exciting.”
 
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE NIGHT?
“I thought it was pretty good. I was really happy with my Farmers Insurance Chevrolet. I went to the middle early and dropped to the back and then we drove back through the middle there and got back to the front. So we had a strong car. When do you go when do you get the run and if you can get to the front. Matt (Kenseth) did a good job of being able to hold us off. Kevin (Harvick) was right there as well and Dale (Earnhardt Jr.). So, I had a good time.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
WAS THIS RACE ABOUT LEARNING AS MUCH AS IT WAS ABOUT WINNING?
“Well we found out we’ve got a real good race car.  We slid the left-front tire and got real tight that last run.  So I’m not sure if we need to work on the balance or whether it was just that flat spotted tire.  Real happy with the way my car drove.  Sat there all the way until the end to make a move and you know that is what we are doing.  We are all waiting to make a move and I went to make a move and nobody got on the elevator with me.”
 
A LOT OF YOUR FANS WERE CONCERNED IF THAT TIRE, WHICH WAS FLAT-SPOTTED, WOULD LAST. BUT FOR YOU, THE MOST DIFFICULT DECISION WAS ANTICIPATING WHEN EVERYBODY WAS GOING TO MAKE THEIR MOVE
“Yeah, knowing when to be at the top with everybody and then knowing when the bottom was coming.  And just trying to make that decision and we made some good ones tonight. We slid the left front tire coming onto pit road but that held up and we were able to make some spots up there at the end. We had a little trouble fueling the car, but this National Guard Chevrolet is real fast and I’m happy to be able to find that out tonight and load it up and deliver it to the starting grid on Sunday. That’ll be good.”
 
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO.47 KROGER/USO CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH:
ON LOCKING INTO THE DAYTONA 500:
“It was really good. We were right on the edge, if we didn’t get in the top-15, whether we make the race, so we kind of had to be smart.  I haven’t done a lot of drafting in these cars since I only had one race in this thing last year. More learning trying to watch the really good guys – (Matt) Kenseth, (Kevin) Harvick – really. How they moved around (Dale Earnhardt) Junior and all that. I felt like I learned a lot. Had to play it a little safe at the end. I felt like I gave a couple spots up, could have got aggressive. Overall we have a pretty fast race car. I think we work on a couple of little things. But, we are in the show, and I think we have a good shot on it.”
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS RACE:
“The outside lane won the race.  The outside lane won the start of the race and the outside lane won the end of the race.  Like I say my race isn’t until Sunday and we will see how we do then.”
 
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO BE IN THE OUTSIDE LANE TO WIN THE RACE?
“Who knows you get 43 cars out there on a restart and you never know what is going to happen.  We will see.  The guys had a good pit stop, feel confident.  We were a little short on raw speed that time it felt like for the first time.  Just need to have a little look at that.”
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 11TH
ROUGH WEEKEND, BUT A PRETTY GOOD NIGHT:
“Yeah the good thing is I’m pretty certain that the No. 41 (Kurt Busch) is in now because we are in.  It’s nice getting all four cars in and not having to worry about it half way through the qualifying races.  We at least know we are going to have all four in.”
 
GOT A BIG THANK YOU FROM GENE (HAAS):
“Yeah, I mean that is what it’s all about.  It’s hard to get four cars in, especially when you’ve got to race a couple of them in.  Just to get through one qualifying race and know that you are going to have all four cars in that is a comforting feeling.”
 
HOW WAS THE RACING COMPARED TO WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT? 
“I think it is just how many guys get on the bottom.  I mean everybody gets on the top and then they start having to lift.  As soon as they have to start checking up then the guys that can hold it wide open and go around the bottom can make time, it’s just a matter of who wants to be the first one to start it.  We were kind of in a position there where we didn’t want to take any chances and we were where we needed to be at the beginning anyway.  So, no need to get in a hurry.  We just stayed in line up there and rode around with the guys we were with there for a while and let it shake out.”
 
IS THE BOTTOM LANE GOI
NG TO HAVE TO DEVELOP FROM THE GUYS IN THE BACK?
“Whoever the strong cars are if they, Matt (Kenseth) is a strong car so he gets on the bottom he is going to get takers to go with him and they are going to make ground.  It’s not saying it can’t happen, but you are going to have to have a strong car leading it to do it.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH
ON LOCKING INTO THE DAYTONA 500:
“I think every time there is a chance that something could happen, then you worry that it could happen. From a couple of days ago, it was really more the mentality ‘Let’s just go out and race’ and ‘Let’s just see if we can make something happen. Let’s see what happens when we try various different things. That is kind of what I did out there.  I kind of keep getting the same results when I try things as in like when I try this, this happens. When I try that, that happens. That’s all good information for Sunday to be honest.””
 
IS IT GOING TO BE POSSIBLE TO DRAFT UP FROM THE BACK?
“It could be challenging, but I think if you get a few people behind you, I think it will be fine.   I know my pit crew is really good, so I know when it comes to pit stops; they’ll help get cars behind me.  They are awesome.   In know that (Tony) Gibson will try strategy to get me track position. With those two things, we’ll get in the thick of it. From there it will be a matter of using those things that I have learned over the last week, and put them to good use.”
 
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 19TH
ON THE RACE:
“I wanted to know that we had something I can move around with in the race. And, now we get to have some fun. Man, that car is super-fast. I think we could get to the draft from anywhere we wanted to.”
 
YOU LED A LOT OF LAPS. THEN, DID YOU DECIDE TO DROP BACK TO BE SAFE?
“Yeah, we ran on the outside there for a while. As soon as we got kind of going backwards and three-wide or whatever I said all right, now it’s time to go back there and play the patient game. It’s no fun, but we get to start on the pole for the Daytona 500 with a really fast car.”
 
WHAT’S YOUR PLAN FOR THE DAYTONA 500? IS IT TO RUN IN THE BACK AND BE SMART AND MAKE IT TO THE END? OR UP FRONT AND STAY OUT OF TROUBLE?
“I like leading laps. I like being up front. We’ll see what we can do. If it gets hairy; the only thing is trying to get to the back you can get yourself wrecked, too. So, we’ll work hard and see where we end up.”
 
AS A ROOKIE, DID YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES ABOUT GUYS NOT WANTING TO WORK WITH YOU?
“They were working with me well. It was good. I knew I had a chance to get in front of (Dale Earnhardt) Junior at one point and I didn’t want to take that chance that early. We already led laps. We wanted to lead some laps. It was a good day for us.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS, FINISHED 2ND, BUT WILL START AT THE REAR OF THE DAYTONA 500 DUE TO FAILING POST RACE INSPECTION
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, FINISHED 3RD
 
KERRY THARP:  Let’s roll into our post-race for tonight’s first Budweiser Duel at Daytona, the first qualifying race for Sunday’s 56th running of the Daytona 500.  Our race runner up is Kevin Harvick.
            Kevin, you said you were doing almost really good, but you have to feel good about this racecar as I know you’re trying to get that second Daytona 500 win under your belt.
            KEVIN HARVICK:  Yeah, just I want to win bad for everybody at SHR, on the new team.  It was really close tonight.  Obviously we’ve won some races that close, we’ve lost some races that close.
            We’ve had two good races.  Our cars have been fast.  We’ve been able to run up front and lead some laps and do the things we need to do.
            On Sunday we just need to do the same thing and keep it rolling for 500 miles.  I think when you get more cars in the pack, it’s going to be a little more intense than what it was tonight.  It was obviously a great finish.  But I just had to go whenever the pack bunched up and decided to make a move like that.  We made it just a touch too late to be able to get the last side draft by Matt there at the end.  So it was a good race.
 
            KERRY THARP:  We’ll take questions now for Kevin.
 
            Q.  Kevin, was conservative driving more a function of less cars or also a function of you guys didn’t want to bust anything up in this race because Sunday is the most important one?
            KEVIN HARVICK:  I think we’ve all done a pretty good job at tearing a few things up along the way so far.  I think everybody was a little bit conservative.  I think obviously there was only 18 cars in the Unlimited and we tore the whole field up.
            I think everybody wanted to do what they had to do to get the best finish that they could.  Obviously those of us running up front tried to win the race.  It just didn’t time out exactly perfect.
 
            KERRY THARP:  Our third place finisher has joined us, that’s Kasey Kahne.
            Let’s hear first from Kasey.
            KASEY KAHNE:  I had a really good Farmers Insurance Chevy.  Was happy with it throughout the race.  Was right behind Kevin, trying to get a run.  We got one right there at the end.  Came close to getting by Matt.
            It was a great finish.  I was able to move around all over the racetrack depending on when people wanted to race.  If people wanted to race, I thought our car was really strong.  That’s really about it.
 
            Q.  Based on what we’ve seen so far with this, think we’ll have a good package to race in the 500?
            KEVIN HARVICK:  We just had a three wide finish for the win.  I guess if you guys don’t like that, we’ll have to try something different (smiling).
            Yeah, I mean, I think when everybody gets antsy and wants to go, you can group up and go.
            KASEY KAHNE:  Absolutely.  If the guys want to race, then the cars suck up quicker.  A bit more of a handful than what they were last year.  I felt like, too, in the pack.
            It will be exciting and a lot going on when people do want to race.
            But 500 miles, you’re probably not going to run three wide all 500, I wouldn’t expect.
 
            KERRY THARP:  Congratulations for putting on a heck of a show.  We look forward to Sunday.
 

Chevy Racing–2/20/14–Daytona–Dale Earnhardt Jr

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO.88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed past success at restrictor plate races, side-drafting, his expectations for the Daytona 500, and more. Full transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK AND HOW THINGS ARE SHAPING UP FOR THE TEAM:
“We have a good car. This car has a ton of preparation and time put into it compared to even the backup car. Hopefully we can get through qualifying race without any problems and get through the rest of the practices so we can deliver this car to the starting grid on Sunday because I think it gives us the best opportunity to win the Daytona 500.   So just sort of going through the processes this week, trying to learn what we need to learn and trying to find what we can out of the car for additional speed.  We were able to do a little bit of that yesterday in practice and in the evening.  But otherwise, it’s been pretty uneventful.”
 
THE RESULTS OF WHAT WE SAW YESTERDAY IN PRACTICE, WAS THAT THE RESULT OF SIDE DRAFTING AND WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?
“I wasn’t out there in the accidents that we had.  Obviously I think Cole (Whitt) cut a tire on something that came off of another car and that created the first accident.  The second accident was just a product of the side draft and these cars getting stuck beside each other a whole lot easier than anything we have ever driven down here, ever since I have been driving down here.  Whether it’s the fenders being flared and the wheel wells not sealing up to the tires, but there is something going on with these cars.   We had it last year and we first noticed it last year when we raced them at the plate tracks where they kind of get stuck beside each other.
 
“You just have to sit there beside someone until someone pushes you by and when everybody kind of gets jammed up behind a couple of guys that are stuck beside each other, you have what we had in the second accident.  Just about 12 cars packed up really tightly behind a couple of guys that are sitting there drafting side-by-side without any help and a couple guys were trying to get out of the draft.   I think Parker Kligerman said he was trying to get out of the draft, and a couple of guys are trying to get in the draft with the 5 and the 27.  So it’s just a challenge in practice and you have cars pulling out of the pack and you have cars blending into the pack and it makes things a little bit challenging sometimes.”
 
WITH YOUR RECENT SUCCESS HERE AT DAYTONA DO YOU FEEL FRUSTRATED THAT YOU HAVE HAD SUCH A LONG DROUGHT SINCE YOUR LAST PLATE WIN?
“I don’t have time to do that honestly, and I have run second in three of the last four Daytona 500s.  Neither one of them were a win, but that is nothing to be ashamed of.  I still feel like that we run well enough at these tracks for me to continue to come into them with confidence, and just in myself regardless of the car.
 
“I still feel like I do restrictor place race well, understand how the draft works rather well, and enjoy racing at
them.  You know, I hope that is always the case.  It’s a different challenge every time you come back and that makes it enjoyable.   The packages may change and maybe the package doesn’t change, but the dynamic weather and this track surface always changes, so the way you draft is always different no matter what.”
 
WITH PACK RACING AND THE ACTION IN PRACTICE YESTERDAY, IS THAT A PREDICTOR OF A WILD RACE ON SUNDAY?
“I hope not.  I think that the qualifying races have me a little nervous because they are at night and just running at night is going to be unique and new for everybody.   You just hope everybody realizes that we have got the Daytona 500 to run on Sunday and this isn’t for all the marbles yet.
 
“So as much fun as it is to run and win a qualifying race and set the tone for your team, you definitely want to go out and try to win those races for your team, but you don’t want to be pulling out a back-up for the 500 if you don’t have to.  You definitely want to start your primary car because of the preparation, time, and development put into the primary car is vastly superior to the back-up.  It gives you the best opportunity to win on Sunday.
 
“I think just saying 500 miles changes everybody’s demeanor, and everybody’s approach to that race.  Those wrecks in practice definitely surprised me and surprised a lot of people and I hope it’s just a product of a lot of cars just trying to get out of the draft, cars blending in, and cars put in a bad position that they could not get out of.
 
“I think definitely this package and the way it drafts is bringing things a lot closer together and making things where guys are racing double file more often.  That is good and we need that and we definitely didn’t race enough in the Daytona 500 last year….you couldn’t race because you would just go to the back and couldn’t risk pulling out because you just didn’t know and going to the rear was a likely result. So we really won’t have that this year and won’t have to worry about that because the bottom seems to be able to put together runs and that is going to make for a better race.  
 
“We have been able to race side-by-side here forever and I think we can do it Sunday without any trouble and put on a great show.”
 
IT SEEMS LIKE YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO ADAPT AT THESE PLATE TRACKS WHEN THEY CHANGE THE RULES.  DO YOU FEEL THAT GIVES YOU AN ADVANTAGE ON SUNDAY?
“I definitely try to keep an open mind and try to understand how the packages and the changes, whether it be a little bit of spoiler or opening up the plate or closing the plate up, and how that does change the draft and the way you get runs and the way the car is going to react to runs. And so you sort of pre-determine and pre-estimate what’s going to happen out there as you’re driving around the track. I feel like I do that well. And I feel like that’s been a part of my success at these places. Just trying to finish off the job has been a little bit difficult in the last several years, but we’ve still had some good runs and have been able to maintain our good track position throughout the races. When we’ve gotten good cars, we’ve been able to put them toward the front.
 
“You just have to have an open mind. What you learn when you first start racing at these tracks is important, but how it works is always changing and you’ve got to be ready for that. You can’t expect it to react at the exact same time every time you come back here. And how the car’s side-draft; they side-draft, for lack of a better word, they are a little more frustrating to side-draft with now. You used to use a side-draft as an offensive move, where you would get up on the guy’s quarter panel and stall him out and it would give you a boost and you’d pull away like jumping a boat wake and get out away from him so he could not do the same thing to you and you would make a pass. That was how we used to use that with success. But now, there’s an extreme stall when you side-draft a guy and it really kills his car. But before you can get out and get away from him, it starts to kill your car and you sort of sit there and just fight on each other’s quarter panels until somebody tucks-in behind one of you and pushes you through. So that’s more frustrating. You’d rather just make the move on your own and move on to the next guy. But you’ve got to be open to those things changing. And when the do change, recognize it and understand it.”
 
IS THERE ANY MORE CONCERN AMONG THE DRIVERS WHEN YOU SEE CARS GETTING UP IN THE FENCE? DOES THAT INCREASE THE AWARENESS?
“It doesn’t.
We’ve seen accidents, bad accidents; but as a driver, we’ve seen that in the history of the sport for as long as I can remember and before my time. But as a driver, your gut feeling to your core is that you’re as safe as you’re ever going to be in that car. And that you worry about driving your race and doing what you need to do and you’re not going to be in that situation. So, I feel like there is still a lot to be learned as far as how to protect the spectators and how to do some things with the catch fence that can prevent things from going into the stands. And I think that NASCAR understands that and we’re obviously always learning and trying to learn and trying to improve.
 
“Unfortunately, those types of accidents give us some of the best knowledge that we can get to improve that situation. But as a driver, you don’t worry about that. When you see that happen, that’s just man, that’s unfortunate for that gut. And that’s a rare occurrence and that’s not going to happen to me. So, that’s how I feel about it.”
 
HAVE YOU NOTICED A DIFFERENT VISION PERSPECTIVE IN THIS CAR VERSUS PREVIOUS CARS?
“I don’t feel like I am struggling to see, or struggling to understand where cars are around me more than any other time down here.  I don’t feel like these cars are any different than the C.O.T. or even the generation before that.  There is nothing about the A-post, or the B-post or the C-post that really annoys me as far as being able to see out of the car.  I am pretty satisfied with my vision out the front and out the back of the car, and what my spotter is telling me.  The thing about it is that one of the things I hear from people who watch these races, and that I see myself and my spotter sees is a car will get a run out of nowhere almost seemingly. We’ll be running along in the pack, and somebody in the middle of the pack will just find something draft-related that will just shoot their car up into a hole.  You always could pre-determine what lane was going to move; how they were forming; how close they were together and you could almost pre-determine where you needed to be by seeing how people were lined up around you.
 
“But with this car, and the way we sort of get stuck side-by-side in the side draft, guys are sort of finding big gaps of air, and their cars and just getting theses boosts out of nowhere and they’ll come running up on you. The other day in the Unlimited, I never knew the No. 9 (Marcos Ambrose) was on the outside of me or trying to go to the outside of me. I wasn’t really paying attention n to him because I didn’t think that him pushing me was keeping his car connected to mine. I didn’t think he had enough power to push me, and then pull out and go around me.
 
“That just isn’t something you really see that often. You can underestimate the runs these guys are getting around you, and you’ll be three-wide more often than you know. I think there were definitely three-wide in that second accident in practice, and I think that a lot of those guys didn’t know they were three-wide because it was inches just the way these cars are getting runs. But I can see fine out of my car. I’m not concerned with the vision at all.”
 
IT SEEMS YOUR DRIVER CHASE ELLIOTT TAKES A LOT OF FLACK FROM OTHER DRIVERS IF SOMETHING HAPPENS ON-TRACK.  WHAT IS IT ABOUT IN YOUR OPINION AND DID YOU HAVE PROBLEMS LIKE THAT EARLY IN YOUR CAREER?
“I think Chase is going to be under a microscope a little bit because of his last name because of the expectations put upon him and because of his alignment with Mr. (Rick Hendrick), and maybe even with his alignment with us.  He’s going to have a lot of expectations.  Take for example the ARCA race where he had something to do with that accident. The guy that spun out – everything him had some influence on him losing control of his car. Chase had no intention of spinning the guy out.  I don’t think he even thinks he did it.
 
“And maybe you could argue that he didn’t spin the guy out. But just the way the air works, that guy got tight and put a lot of wheel of wheel in his car and Chase was right up on him. If he didn’t hit him, he was an inch off of him, and that’s all it took. I’ve done the same thing. I came down here, I can’t remember, I think it was the second 300 that I came to. Maybe It was the July race, we were out there practicing and was running down the front straightaway drafting with Jeff Burton, Dick Trickle and a couple of other people. Michael Waltrip pulled out on the track and he was blending up on the track, and I had a run on somebody and pulled out to make a pass. I was basically going three wide in the middle. Michael was about 50 mile-an-hour slower than we were. Just going by Michael that fast blew my car up into the guy beside me, and we all wrecked; about 10 cars in practice.  Jeff Burton and Dick Trickle were both in my garage in 10 minutes trying to chew my butt.
 
“Those things are going to happen to every driver that comes into this sport. And, more importantly, I think it happens more often with guys like myself, or Chase number one, because they are angry. But number two; they expect more out of you.  They expect you to know better than to do that because you are Bill Elliott’s son, or you are Dale Earnhardt’s son and you’ve been around this forever and you ought to know better. And they want you to know better.  As much they were there to chew my butt, they were there to help me to understand to not make that mistake again. If I am going to get it, and going to make it, you have to learn not to make that mistake again.   So, that is going to be part of the process for Chase, and part of the growing pains, but he is such a quick study, and he handles those situations just really well.  He said ‘Hey, I might of done it; I don’t know if I did it.’ He’s sitting there in the car under caution with a pretty level head about the situation, which I felt pretty good about. He doesn’t get excited. He doesn’t bad mouth; he doesn’t point fingers and say ‘It’s that guy’s fault’ or ‘It wasn’t my fault’. He just has a real level head and open mind about things, and I like that about him.  I think that is going to benefit him as he is going through these growing pains, and trying to process everything happening to him.”
 
HAS YOUR APPRECIATION CHANGED FOR THE DIFFICULTY OF WINNING A PLACE RACE WITH THE LONG GAP SINCE YOUR LAST WIN?
“Those were different cars. Those cars were pretty amazing that I was driving back then. I will be honest. Those cars should have won. Those were pretty fast cars. I can’t as much credit as I would like for how good those cars were back then, and how we had ourselves separated from the competition I think.  Under the current rule package, and strict guidelines with the rear shocks and springs; really there is no area that the teams are able to work in to set themselves apart from anybody. So everybody pretty much has the same car these days. It is a lot harder to win these races and rightfully so. I definitely appreciate the challenge we have today. But if it were the same playing field, I would be asking myself a lot of questions. But it has changed so much since then. At least that is my story.”
 
YOU HAVE BEEN SECOND IN THREE OF THE LAST FOUR DAYTONA 500S. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN TAKE FROM THOSE BECAUSE THE CARS KEEP CHANGING?
“You are always trying to learn, and every time I go out on the track, I want to be around a pack of cars that I can learn from every time we practice.  Every time we practice this week, I want to go out there and try to learn my car.  Maybe we’ve changed something that makes my car do something it couldn’t do. Maybe it does something better or worse that I need to pinpoint. So I am eager every time we get an opportunity to go on the track to do that.  As far as trying to win  one of these races, or not
run second again, I think we need to be up front.  We’re not far enough toward the front.  When we’ve run second; we’ve come from third, or fourth, or fifth, or sixth I those last few laps.  You are not going to win the race from back there. You might run second, but you aren’t going to win.  You need to be leading the race. I would much rather be leading the race tonight, and the Daytona 500 inside of five laps to go than be anywhere else.”
 

Chevy Racing–Daytona Practice–Jeff Gordon

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS PRACTICE
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER NOTES & QUOTES
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS  – AVOIDED CRASH DURING FIRST PRACTICE SESSION, BUT A PIECE OF DEBRIS, A COWL FLAP, WAS STUCK IN THE HOOD
 
YOU HAVE BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME. HAVE YOU EVER HAD SOMETHING LIKE THAT HAPPEN TO YOUR RACE CAR?
“I can’t say that I have. The whole thing happened so quick. I haven’t even made half a lap. The field had just gone by me. I actually, as the field was going by me, I came on the radio and I said, ‘Alan (Gustafson), do we want to be in the middle of this because it looks like a debris big mess’. I’m not exactly sure what happened in front of me; I think it the No. 26 (Cole Whitt) or somebody had gotten into the wall. And it looked the No. 55 (Brian Vickers) moved down to avoid him and came across the nose of the No. 13 (Casey Mears) or somebody. But yeah, I just tried to avoid them and this (points to a cowl flap) got stuck in my hood. I thought I was in pretty good shape until I saw that. That’s a bummer. So, our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet is a little damaged right now. We’ll fix that damage and I don’t know if we’re going to come back out after this (laughs).”
 
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN AN ON-TRACK INCIDENT IN PRACTICE
WHAT DID YOU SEE OUT THERE?
“I was just kind of cruising through the middle and the No. 55 turned down.  After looking at the replay it looked like the No. 26 got into the fence and he (the No. 55) was just pulling down to avoid him.  These things happen.  This is definitely one of those tracks you kind of expect these things to happen.  As bad as it is and as much as we don’t want to get involved in something like this you also expect it.  It’s not good for the GEICO Chevy, but at the same time these guys will get it fixed up.  It seemed like it had pretty good speed in the draft so I like the way it drove.  Got to work on it to get it to turn a little bit better, but other than that we are good.”

WHAT DID YOUR CREW CHIEF BOOTIE BARKER SAY ABOUT THE DAMAGE?
“They are obviously going to try to repair it where this car is probably going to be useful.  That is a good thing it wasn’t bad enough where we have to pull out a back-up.  Not the work that we wanted to do.  I don’t think we will get in the second practice because they are going to have to take their time to repair it right.  But hopefully we will be good for the 150’s.” 
 
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 PEAK/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR PRACTICE CRASH
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
“What I saw in the car was just the front half of the No. 20 car getting kind of squirley like somebody ran into the back of him to try and bump draft.  Turns out Joey (Logano) was bump drafting the No. 20 in the middle of the pack when we were trying to get up to speed.  I guess that is the end result.  Fortunately Parker (Kligerman) is okay and nobody in the stands got hurt.  It could have been a lot worse.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE OUT THERE WITH THE SIDE DRAFTING? 
“I literally just got up to speed and the side draft is huge on these cars with this new style of car.  We knew that coming in, but we were just three wide.  I’m pretty sure the No. 20 got hit by somebody and the next thing I know I’m sideways.”

THOUGHTS GOING INTO THE DUEL AFTER THIS HAPPENED?
“We had a really fast Chevrolet as you saw all the RCR cars have been extremely fast this week.  Our back-up car is pretty good too.  It comes out of the same shop obviously, so it’s not as good as our primary because it’s our back-up, but sometimes a slower car drives a little bit better too.  We will see.  I have no reservations about the 150’s.  We will try to race our hardest to get the best starting position we can and if we crash, which is 50/50 shot at these places we crash and we will try to get another car out of the shop.”
 

Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Helio Castroneves

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
 
An interview with:
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed   .  Full transcript:
 
THE MODERATOR:  Helio Castroneves joins us.
At the end of last season, coming up short in the championship, you put that away.
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  That’s gone.  Yesterday’s news.  Now we’re in 2014.  We have a lot of work ahead of us.  We’re ready.  We’re starting some few testings already.  We’re going to be testing Thursday in Barber, then Sebring before the spring training, then the race.
I’m excited and ready, to be honest, to start the season because it’s been a long off-season in a good way.
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll dive right into questions.
Q.        What are you going to have to do to win that first championship?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  I don’t know.  I have the right line with God, to be honest, and with the Pope, too, especially with John Paul.  He said, When the time comes.
I just got to push it.  I just got to keep pushing.  You can’t waiting for something to happen.  You have to continue giving yourself an opportunity.  Well, it may be this year.
Certainly we did our job last year.  Unfortunately circumstances outside of our control, didn’t happen.  But right now that’s the attitude I’m going with 2014, give ourselves an opportunity, that door will open one day.
 
Q.        Juan, we were talking about how you didn’t like each other earlier in the careers.
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  I think it was more rivalry.  I don’t think it was personal.  We cross our path many, many years, including the beginning, middle and end of the stage.  Now we’re literally together.
I feel we’re in a different phase of our lives, there is a lot going around, we accomplish a lot in our career.  I guess you can call that mature.
All of this, it’s part of life.  Honestly, it’s amazing to have him in our side.  He’s been an incredible addition, and I mean that.  He’s definitely going to be a tough competitor.  Most of what I noticed, which I knew he would be quick adapting on the car, but most of it’s the information that he brought, that I was very surprised and happy about.  Certainly it’s going to make our cars better.
 
Q.        Last year with AJ, you, Will and AJ bonded quickly and became very close.  Can that same relationship happen with Juan, the three of you?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  I think so.  Right now that’s the way it is.  We went to many trips together, all of us getting along very well.  One thing is testing, another thing is competing.
In my end I feel that so far myself, Will, even Juan, we know the type of person he is.  I know him very well.  Anytime he step on somebody’s toes the wrong time, it’s going to be bad.  What I’m actually happy about so far, we seem to be speaking in the same way, which is one way:  win for Roger.  We want to win this title as bad as anybody else.
 
Q.        How different is this series going to be without Dario?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Good question.  Dario, for me, I can’t say for others, but for me he was certainly an amazing competitor, an amazing driver first of all.  Second, my competitors, they make me better.  Not having Dario, for sure I’m not going to be as good as I was before.
However, he accomplished so much in his career.  For me at least I’m going to be happy to see that he’s still here with us, not racing, but at least around.  That for me, it’s happiness.  It was a scary accident.  He’s going to be able to tell stories to his kids or dogs or whatever, and I feel that at least for us — it was shocking for me.  I’m glad at least I’m going to see him around.
 
Q.        This year is the 10th running of this race with IndyCar.  As the driver who has won it the most times, what can you say about this race, not just what it means to you, but to IndyCar?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Well, there’s several things.  The first thing is after a long season, we starting in St. Pete, so everybody’s fresh, everybody’s ready.  Second is the atmosphere.  I mean, the weather is great.  The fans are amazing.  Over 120,000 people over the weekend.  It’s becoming part of a big party in the town.  Hen you put all these things together, it’s becoming a great event.
Plus the track.  The technical side, it makes between the street course with an airport involvement.  It’s not always a 90-degree corner like a typical road course has.  You have high-speed corners, things like that.
It’s only four hours’ drive from my home.  So everything counts.  Plus, when the place suits you well, you tend to enjoy much better.
 
Q.        What can you say about some of the young, up-and-coming drivers keeping the IndyCar Series fresh?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Briscoe is already old (laughter).  But it’s great he’s landing in a good team like Ganassi.
I think the young generations is always going to have surprising drivers.  Last year we have several new winners, might not be young drivers, but new winners.  I think when the series, Indy Lights could be better in 2015 with new cars.  That could become something more important for the new generation.
On the other side is leadership now with Derrick Walker and Mark Miles, it shows at the least, the meetings we had before, it shows leadership.  Maybe that’s where we were at the weakest point, and now we see a lot of positiveness.
I feel great about the series getting in their feet, getting back the way it used to be.  It’s been a long time I haven’t felt that positiveness in the series.  I’m exciting.  I’m honestly really exciting.
Media say, They always say the same thing.  But this year with Derrick and Mark Miles, good things for the series and could create a new generation of drivers.
 
Q.        At this stage of your career, what would mean more, the fourth Indianapolis 500 or finally getting your championship?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  For me, Indianapolis 500, if you got to win one race, that’s the race you got to win.  Especially the position that I’m at, it’s a great opportunity to join an incredible club.  Yes, that would probably be the biggest accomplishment I could do it.
The championship certainly is personal.  It’s just something that I didn’t get yet.  It’s like one track I didn’t win.  That’s the way I see it.  There are several places that I finish, like Milwaukee is one of the place that I’m always fast and I always finish second or someplace else.  It’s a something that I want to accomplish and win the championship.  I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen.
 
Q.        Driving for Roger all these years, was there any thought of driving the Daytona 500 and win both of them?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  I asked Roger if I could try a different car, he said no.  I asked again, he said no.  The third time he said no.  So it’s not a lack of trying (laughter).
 
Q.        Did you space it out?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  I space it out.  I been there 14 years.  It’s no.  I think I got the message (laughter).
 
Q.        14 years in any form of motorsports, that’s an incredibly long time.  Could you
speak to that association.
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Yeah, I feel it’s a great marriage for me and for the team.  Right now both of us working together, we have the same goals, we have the same accomplishments that we want to make happen.
When you have that kind of a marriage, everybody is happy.  We want to make it happen.  Last year was a big prove that we want to make it happen.
 
Q.        Expanding Team Penske up to three drivers, do you know who your race strategist is going to be for this season?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Yes.  Do you want to know?
 
Q.        Yes.
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  RP is going to be my strategist.  I’m super happy.  First time I had him was last year and I’m happy to have him back.
 Erickson is now selling motorcycles in Detroit.  If you need a motorcycle, Indian motorcycle, help him out.
 
Q.        Roger said before he would be your strategist, if you didn’t win the championship, it would be his fault.  Was there punishment?
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  No (laughter).  Roger does not make mistakes, if you know what I mean.  No, like I said, I’m just honored to have him on the radio and happy to have him as the strategist.
 
Q.        Did I see a picture of you on Twitter with Brad and you were wearing the yellow suit?
HELIO CASTRONEVES:  Yes.  That was Cooper Standard group that they sponsor him at the Truck Series.  It was me and Chelsea doing a presentation for them.  I tried to bring Brad to do a little moves.  Looks like he was having an oversteer problem there.  Wasn’t quite sexy.
It was a lot of fun.  A great event for his sponsors.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Helio Castroneves, thank you very much.
 

Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Ryan Briscoe

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
 
An interview with:
 
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed his first full-season with Chip Ganassi Racing, expectations for the season, his CGR teammates, driving for Corvette Racing and other topic.  Full transcript
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’re joined by Ryan Briscoe.
How is it being a new dad?
RYAN BRISCOE:  She’s doing great.  She’s 10 weeks old now.  No complaints.  It’s all good.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Ryan recently tested out on the West Coast.  Tell us a little bit about that experience and what you can take away from going back into St. Petersburg. 
RYAN BRISCOE:  Yeah, good, really good.  Any track time has been big for us with our crew.  We’ve put together a new team to run the fourth car at Ganassi.  Got a few familiar faces there, but a lot of new guys as well.
For Eric Cowdin, who is my engineer this year, we worked together for a few years at Penske.  We’re both new, getting back integrated into Chip Ganassi Racing.  A bit to learn for both of us.  A few new mechanics and stuff.
The testing has been great, getting everybody working together, trying to get into a bit of a flow as we get closer to the first race.  We’re testing one more time at Barber before the first race.  Really there’s not a whole lot of track time.
We did Fontana last week on Monday, then to Sonoma on Wednesday.  We got a lot of good data points from the oval to the road course, lots of good laps, lots of good information from the engine side.
All in all, it was really successful.  For me, great to be getting the seat time.  Feels good.
 
THE MODERATOR:  You also participated in the Rolex 24.  A little bit about that experience because it was a brand-new car you were driving.
RYAN BRISCOE:  Yeah, I’m doing Daytona and I’ll be doing the Sebring 12 hours as well with Corvette Racing.  It’s an awesome car.  I’ve never raced GTs before, so I was a bit apprehensive going in.
The thing drives unbelievable.  It really drives more like a sports car.  Good downforce, lots of fun.  From here I’ll be heading down to Sebring for testing this week.  Anytime at the racetrack is good fun for me.
 
Q.        Between driving for Chip and Roger, is there any thoughts of running both the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500?
RYAN BRISCOE:  I’ve never really put any effort into talking to anyone about doing that, so not really.
I don’t have any experience driving stock cars.  I think it’s a cool idea, but it takes a lot of effort from the team’s standpoint as well to make that happen.  They probably look more towards guys that have won those races to begin with if someone’s going to do it.  So, yeah.
 
Q.        What are your thoughts about how this month of May looks to you?  Two races, two thought processes.
RYAN BRISCOE:  I think it’s going to be good ’cause I like the fact that we’re extending the month of May.  I think it’s going to be an exciting way to open up the month of May with a big event.  Something new for a lot of fans that will be there that maybe just go to the Indy 500 every year, haven’t seen what we actually do most of the time throughout the year, which is road course racing.
I think being able to showcase our diversity as a series on one venue, in one place, I think that’s going to be great for the series and great for a lot of the fans as well.
I can’t wait to drive the track.  I did the testing back in November.  We drove a couple of variations of the circuit going both ways down the straight, and the track will be different again to improve the racing.
I think it’s going to be great.  It’s going to be a quick turnaround from race day to opening day for the oval the next day.  It will be a refocus like you’re going to a new place because your mindset changes completely.
I’m hoping it’s a success.  I think it’s a great idea.  I’m hoping the fans really take to it.
 
Q.        You spent most of your career with Penske or Ganassi.  You have to play a role as a driver when you have big owners.  How does Kanaan fit into a Chip world?
RYAN BRISCOE:  Tony?  He’s driven for big teams, too.  I don’t know.  Honestly, I’m not sure.  I’m just getting to know Tony really.
I think Chip knows Tony pretty well before just hiring him, so he’s pretty comfortable with him.  They almost signed a few years ago, as well.  I guess time will tell.  He’s definitely a fun character to have around.  He’s always a lot of fun.  He’s aggressive.  He’s definitely got a unique driving style that I’ve picked up on the last couple tests, which is interesting to look at and learn from as well.
I’m looking forward to working with him.  How he’s going to fit in?  He has his own style, so I think he’ll fit in the way he always does.  I think he’ll be good.
 
Q.        You’ve had an interesting view at Scott Dixon.  What makes him so successful?
RYAN BRISCOE:  I think he’s just solid, man, like a rock.  Even-keeled.  He just gets the job done.  Definitely having the continuity he’s had through highs and lows, he’s just been there the whole time.  When he’s had those bad days, he doesn’t say bad things about the team.  He just gets down to work and works really hard behind the scenes without publicizing it so much.  I think that’s what he’s good at.
He’s a phenomenal driver.  He’s fast, he’s consistent.  He’s just the same every year.  You can always count on him going for a championship again
.
THE MODERATOR  Last year you had a few races in IndyCar, injured your wrist, came back.  Coming back for a full season, tell us your thoughts about that.
RYAN BRISCOE:  It’s like everything I wanted after I didn’t get a full-time ride last year has sort of come true now.  It’s really the perfect scenario.  Last year we sort of got to a point around this time where I was like, Full-time ride is not looking good, but that’s all right, we’ll focus on doing something for the Indy 500, I’ll keep my racing up by doing the sports cars.
I didn’t think I would do as many IndyCar races as I ended up doing.  The end goal was I want to get back to IndyCar and have a full-time ride in 2014.  I thought my best way of doing that was to do the sports cars last year, then work hard from that point on on being here now.
It’s crazy.  It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride to get here.  Had a great run with Chip at the 500 last year.  John Barnes gave me the opportunity with his team at the races that I could do, which was tough because I was racing the IndyCar one weekend, then I couldn’t do the next race because I was racing the sports car, then I could do the next race which was an oval.  It was just all over the place.  It was really hard to get that focus.
In the series that’s so competitive, you need that consistency to be competitive.  But in saying that, things have worked out.  I was there on the race weekends, keeping my face in front of the teams, everybody that needed to see me.
Anyway, things have worked out.  I’m really excited to have this opportunity.  It’s a huge chance to run with Chip this year.  We’re working really hard on being strong.  I’m working hard on being on top of my game and hopefully competitive.
 

Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Ed Carpenter

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
 
An interview with:
 
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed team ownership, 2014 season and Mike Conway.  Full transcript:
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll get started with Ed Carpenter.
Ed, tell us about that transition in ownership and driving, the main reason for that with you and your sponsors and the rest of the team.
ED CARPENTER:  We started the team two years ago.  I want to be able to race as long as I can and do it well.  At the same time the race team is something that I see as my future beyond driving, whenever that day comes.  It’s certainly a business that I want to be successful for long after I’m driving.
That’s kind of where the decision came from, just to make sure that we’re doing everything we possibly could to position the team well and in a strong place to deliver for all our current partners, Fuzzy’s, Chevrolet, and hopefully to grow the team in the near future.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Your team tested last week both at Fontana, then Sonoma with Mike.  What did you learn from those manufacturer test days?
ED CARPENTER:  Yeah, we’ve definitely been busy testing the past month.  It was nice to get back on the track for me.  It’s always fun to work with Chevrolet, developing some new things, it’s fun to be part of that process.  To go back to Fontana, run there, continue working on that track is fun.
A lot of what we’ve been doing is really getting Mike comfortable with our team and at the same time us getting comfortable with Mike.  It’s gone well.  He’s been in the car four days now since he joined us, which other than Juan is I think as much as anyone has tested.
I feel like he’s made a lot of progress.  He came to Fontana with us when I was in the car.  I think that was a good exercise for him as well, just to see me not as a half driver/half owner standing on the timing stand, but to see me interact with the guys.  I think it made him feel more comfortable seeing me in that element rather than seeing me as kind of an owner and a driver.  I think it’s been different for both of us figuring out that role, but it’s been a fun process.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Last year you finished second in Fontana.  You sat on the pole of the Indianapolis 500 last year.  Going into this season with Pocono, Indianapolis, Fontana, what are your thoughts about those big ovals, those super speedways with the Chevy power, what you think you can do?
ED CARPENTER:  I mean, 500-mile races are fun.  They’re more fun than the shorter races just because of how much more that goes into it.  You have more opportunities to figure out how to win the race and you also have more opportunities to mess it up.
It definitely has a higher degree of difficulty.  Really happy to see Pocono being a 500-miler.  I needed an extra 100 miles there last year.  Looking forward to having the extra mileage.  Hopefully we can reclaim that one for Chevy after Honda kind of put it to us with Ganassi last year.
Just looking forward to getting started.  Like you said, we have those three 500-milers.  The rest are all great racetracks and races as well.  So excited for my schedule.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Questions.
 
Q.        Ed, it’s been alluded to with the strength of you on the ovals and Michael on the road and streets that you could challenge for the entrants championship this year.
ED CARPENTER:  It’s been talked about definitely.  I think that Mike and I are both capable of winning in our respective disciplines, so to speak, or strong suits.  I feel really strongly about the capabilities of our team.  I feel like we should be in the mix everywhere we go.
With that being said, the strength of the series, teams and drivers right now, is at a really high level.  It’s no easy feat, but we’re definitely going to give it our best shot.
 
Q.        I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to do any testing, but I’m curious to know whether you see a difference in the Chevy engine.
ED CARPENTER:  I’ve been on the track twice, both times with the new 2014 Chevrolet.  It’s hard to really have a direct comparison because it had been several months since I had been in the car before.  To be honest, both engines operate at such a high level.  Chevy has continued to do a great job for all its teams and us.
Until we get to St. Pete, then Indianapolis for an oval, it’s really hard to know where it’s going to shake out.  I don’t know that Honda has shown their hand yet.  I don’t think we’ve shown our hand yet either.
I definitely feel good about where we are as a team.  I feel really confident in Chevrolet, the work that they’ve done and continue to do, that they’ll put us in a position to be able to win races as a team.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you, Ed.
 
ED CARPENTER:  Thank you.
 C

Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Sebastian Saavedra

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
 
An interview with:
 
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 KV AFS RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed joining KV AFS racing, teaming again with Scott Sebastien, looking forward to the season and  other topics.  Full transcript:
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’re joined by Sebastian Saavedra.
Sebastian, the team has been joined by Gary Peterson.  Tell us a little bit about that relationship and how it has transferred now to the IndyCar Series.
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  Well, it’s something that has been working for a while now.  When I came from Europe in 2009, Gary was pretty much like my second dad, having my first dad present here of course.
We built a very strong relationship.  He took me below his wing to develop me inside his driving development program.  We come through since then.  Last year, of course, having a great sponsor.  Dragon Racing was one year we got slightly separated.  As soon as the season was over, we wanted to continue the great path we have.
Together with Jimmy Vasser, we got stuck on a flight going on our way to Toronto.  We were side-by-side speaking for everything, future plans.  Since then everything start to move forward.
Very happy that the KV AFS Racing program has come together.  Now to put it in papers and make it a reality is something that makes me very excited and, of course, gives us a lot of positive energy going into the season.
                    
THE MODERATOR:  Moving from the IndyCar Series to the Firestone Indy Lights help you?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  Totally.  It was not an option.  It was that or doing nothing at all.  But it came the opportunity to make our stronger with AFS and Gary Peterson, trying not only to prepare, but keep learning.  At that time, being 20 years old, I had the opportunity to take chances, and still can.
Now looking back, this is a reality because of those days.  Because of the not only trust that the Indy Lights Series had in me, but, of course, the trust of Gary Peterson and Michael Andretti.  Everything is just a building structure.
 
THE MODERATOR:  You made your Indianapolis 500 debut when you were 18.
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  I was just turning 19, yes.  I think I was the first driver from 1990 to be in the great Indy 500.
I think that first time, maybe being young, it was everything a bit too overwhelming, not understanding where I was in.  But the second time everything becomes so clear and so real.
I’ve been blessed to be able to do this for a while now.  This is actually going to be my second full season.  I already had a long round with Conquest Racing.  It’s something that makes me very proud to be around this great series, seeing its development throughout the years.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Questions for Sebastian.
 
Q.        Were you getting nervous at all as time was going on that you weren’t going to have a ride for this year?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  I think as soon as I knew that Dragon Racing was not going, it was a bit late for sure.  I had a three-year contract with Dragon.  This was something that give us a little bit of relief, knowing I had somewhere to be in.
When they decided not to go, it was a late call.  But fortunately enough, as I said, something was brewing very slowly inside KV and AFS.  I was nervous in a way of not being able to race, but how quick could we make it happen.  Now that the series has opened up testing a little bit more, I wanted to be part of that.
But at the end I think I knew I was in the hands of great people and that things were going to come through, the question was when.  It came right at the time that we were expecting.
 
Q.        The flight you were next to Jimmy, was it to the Toronto race?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  I’m pretty sure it was.  We got stuck in New York.  We had to change flights and go somewhere else.  It was just a big mess.
So we had a good six, seven hours side-by-side.  Then we arrived to Toronto.  He took me to the track.  I had to go to the track to sit fit.  He was ready to go to the hotel, but he took me in the worst traffic ever of Toronto.
We had an interesting relationship there.  Before it was, Hey, Jimmy, bye, Jimmy.  That was as long as our conversations went.
But we learned a lot from each other that day and opened what we are building today.
 
Q.        Do you like working with Bourdais?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  I’m actually being forced to (laughter).
No, we built a really great relationship last year.  I think I respect Bourdais a lot and he respects me.  I think that’s the key to building a great partnership with your teammate.
I think we were able to understand each other and see development-wise that we needed each other to move forward.  So I think it makes it a lot easier to have somebody by your side.  As Jimmy said, you broke those barriers of who the heck is by my side.  Definitely it’s a plus to have him on my side, something that is already natural.  We already get along very well.
 
Q.        I know Juan is a lot older than you.  He’s told us in the past he’s not that popular amongst Colombian racers.  Did you watch him when you were growing up?  Was he not someone that you followed?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  He’s one of the reasons I’m here.  I was only eight years old when he won Indy 500.  I was just starting my go-kart career by then.
It surely gave a little bit of, Hey, if you’re a Colombian, you can make it happen.
Since then we’ve had a couple of contacts.  I raced in the 500 miles of Brazil.  He was there.  That was actually the first time we actually get to speak.  I was 13.  Since then we never spoke again until the Race of the Stars at the end of the year, when we became a lot closer.
I do accept that he’s one of those guys that came through on a very important time of my life, thinking, Is this what I want to do for my whole career?  And it was, and of course, Roberto Guerrero was another guy that came through on my first Indy 500.
I’ve been very blessed with very good people around.
 
Q.        What have you learned from Bourdais?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  He’s a very technical guy.  I think we’ve learned from each other a lot.  We do not have the same driving styles, so that’s something that leaves us to develop different paths throughout the course of the weekend.  We are pretty much able to see what works, what doesn’t, pretty much adapt it to our specific cars.
What I’ve been able to learn from him is just experience.  He has plenty of experience.  He just portrays that very easily.  It’s good when we were sitting with all the engineers for me to say my thoughts, listen to his thoughts, of course complement on those lines.
It’s been a good relationship.  I’ve pushed him to different limits.  It’s good that you don’t feel comfortable at all anytime.  You always start to push when you have somebody behind you all the time.  That’s the development; that’s how it works.
 
Q.        Just looking at your team, times standing, people looking at data.  Will you sit together with Sebastien’s engineers to look over the car data at race weekends?  Will it be independent with separate engineers?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  That’s defini
tely one of the key points for this season:  we’re going to be one team sharing completely everything.  Very good relationship between our engineers.  That’s something that helped to see what is the next step in every session that we are out.
I live in Indianapolis.  I’m pretty much every day bothering the mechanics and engineers at the shop.  That also makes a huge help.  But we are meant to be just one.
 
Q.        Sebastien also tested yesterday at Sebring and Sonoma late last week.  You mentioned about Bourdais.  Have you received any information or had conversations with Vasser on his input, on his style of management, how he relays information to the drivers?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  Jimmy sees Bourdais with a lot of respect, of course.  He saw me as the youngster that pretty much still has no limits.  So that’s great to keep the development and pushing Bourdais.
He has a lot of positive attitude around us.  Demanding a lot, of course.  That’s something we’re very welcome to.  When he says he wants to see trophies in his trophy case, that’s something we’ve heard a lot, not only in a couple interviews.  That’s, of course, one of the opportunities that KV AFS Racing is giving us.
We just need to keep focused.  We know what we have.  We know what we’re capable of doing last part of the season last year.  We just need to continue that same path, already having knowledge from two sides.  Having the great oval package from KV, then having great knowledge from street courses from Dragon Racing.  That’s what we’re trying to combine and make a strong overall performance.
 
Q.        Have you raced against Montoya before?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  Non-professional events.
 
Q.        What do you think it’s going to be like?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  I think it’s going to be interesting, mostly for Colombia, for our country.  Now having three Colombians already signed.  I don’t see it definitely.  When I put on my helmet, I don’t care who is by my side.  I just focus on the cars, the track.
But it’s something definitely very big for history as Colombia has never had three Colombians ever in the same series or ever in the professional level.
It’s going to be a very proud moment for all of us.
 
Q.        It has to go through your head that you watched that guy growing up.
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  Definitely.  But I also watched Helio, Dario, T.K.  I’ve had the opportunity to work by their sides the past three, four years.  So I think that moment passed 2009, 2010.  That was the moment of saying, Helio is by my side.
I’ve been able to build a great friendship with them and not look at them as the professionals as they are, but more as friends and competitors.
 
Q.        Is it a big deal in Colombia to have three Colombians in the series?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  It’s insane.  It’s huge.  Sports in Colombia has been growing exponentially in the past 10 years.  Last year we won our first gold medal in BMX actually.  It’s something that we’re very proud of our athletes.
It’s starting very slowly to portray the support from the government, from the public and private enterprises.  So it is huge to have three Colombians in the same roof, the most professional series in America at IndyCar.  There’s a possibility of having a fourth.  That’s something that has never been even thought of in the past.  We have Roberto Guerrero.  Right now we have something like about 50 Colombians worldwide trying to make it.
 
Q.        When you compete you want to do well for yourself.  That’s pressure for you to win for yourself and your sponsors.  Do you ever feel that you have to do well for your country?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  I think in general you just want to be the best of the best.  That’s my thinking, just winning the race or the season.  In the end you want to be the best.
In this case, yes, you want to be the best of your country, but you also want to be the best in North America.  I see the big picture more than just this regional goal.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Sebastian Saavedra, thank you very much.
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA:  Thank you.